Heads or Tails
by Hawki
Summary: Novelization: It seemed a simple mission for Sonic-infiltrate Robotropolis, retrieve raw materials and don't get killed in the process. Yet with Tails tagging along and Robotnik's latest scheme being revealed, simplicity no longer applied.
1. Unwelcome Arrivals

.

**Sonic the Hedgehog: Heads or Tails**

**Chapter 1: Unwelcome Arrivals**

Mobians didn't know you could see clouds from space.

How could they? No mobian had ever ventured beyond their homeworld, to escape the sky and reach the inky blackness of space. No mobian had the means, and despite millennia of astronomy, astrology and even philosophy, none really had the motive either. Mobius was their world. Their home. As beautiful as the night sky was, as brightly as the sun shone, why would they want to go there? Granted, there was much they would never learn as a result, but at least in regards as to whether clouds could be seen from space, such an answer eluding them was something they could live with.

If "living" was really a word that could be used nowadays...

Assuming a mobian did have both means and motive to escape the gravity of their homeworld, they would have seen that clouds were indeed visible from space. Many of them, standing out as much as the deep blue of their seas, the green of their forests and plains and the brown-yellow colours of their deserts. They would have seen, much to their surprise, that from space, Mobius was a pristine world. A jewel amongst the stars. An island in the void. They would have seen what the passenger in the shuttle breaking through those clouds would have.

"Now approaching the troposphere. ETA...thirty seconds."

The troposphere...the lowest level of the atmosphere. The realm that contained 80% of the world's atmospheric mass. The realm where many of the clouds were. Clouds that began to show the true nature of the world, or at least its north-western corner. Slowly, white gave way to brown. Surely, the air around the shuttle was overcome with everything from carbon monoxide to particulate matter. Finally, the source of it all was revealed.

Robotropolis. The shuttle's destination. A city of industry, of science, of technology.

A city of hell.

Like stalagmites reaching for the sky, the buildings stood tall, crumbling guardians eroded by acid rain. Smoke stacks left, right and centre stood among them, emitting the poisonous fumes into the atmospheric sink. All around it stood desert, as if the city was an infected cell and the sand was part of the virus crippling the planet. The desert had been here long before the city, yet it wasn't always like this. Once, Robotropolis was a city of balance. Once, it was a city of beauty. Once, it went by the name of Mobotropolis, and was the jewel of Mobius's crown rather than the fool's gold it had become.

"Entering Robotropolis airspace. Heading for HQ, landing pad five."

In contrast to the ruined buildings and churning hunks of industry, the shuttle was quite elegant. Mainly black and with a curved wing structure, it wove its way through the smog, its fusion engines an oddity amongst this realm of fossil fuels. Clean energy, but by practicality rather than choice. Fusion was expensive. Fossil fuels weren't. It was as simple as that.

"Five seconds to landing."

As simple as those very words.

The pilot didn't notice nor care about the smog-filled realm it was flying through. It was a robot. The air made no difference to it. Even the lack of visibility was a moot point, given the shuttle's navigation system. Indeed, the flying was mainly a formality. As was its words. Its master knew where he was. The smog, the sights, the sounds of progress and his expanding empire...he was where he belonged

"We're home, Cluck..." the passenger said as he patted his pet, giving himself the kind of affirmation of presence he knew he was entitled to. "I do miss the beauty of this place when I'm away."

Which was more and more often as his empire expanded. Even into space. But in the end, he always came back. All roads led to Robotropolis, as did the source of Mobius's woes.

The pet clucked in what amounted to affection. The only affection the shuttle's passenger would ever receive in this world. He wasn't mobian. And even if he was, the free peoples of this world would have loathed him all the same.

Some called him a madman. Some called him a monster. Some used both terms, and even more colourful ones. But in the end, he only had one true name. And all mobians knew it.

Everyone knew the name of Doctor Julian Ivo Robotnik.

* * *

Gravity was one of those things that was inevitable.

Granted, it was practically non-existent outside planetary bodies such as Mobius, but it was always there, however faintly. Gravity kept one's feet on the ground. Gravity imposed order on star systems, even galaxies. And even as the shuttle defied gravity by firing its downward thrusters, it was bound to gravity just the same. Slowly, but surely. Inevitably. And inevitably, Robotnik would be disembarking from it.

It was that fact that worried Snively the most.

Snively was actually the nickname of Colin Kintobor Jr., but it was a nickname that had stuck. Short with a pointy nose, thin wisps of hair and "lackey" painted all over him, it was a nickname that was well deserved. Second in command of Robotropolis and its growing empire in name, nothing but a domestic servant in practice. A servant that had looked after the house while Robotnik had examined the viability of a base on the moon, but a servant nonetheless. And right now, as he stood on the landing platform with trepidation as his uncle's shuttle descended, he was a servant bombarded with the ship's exhaust, messing up what little hair he had. The Third Law of Motion was as inevitable as gravity itself. And so inevitable was Robotnik's displeasure, no matter how well he looked after his capital...that should be regarded as a scientific law as well.

"Good morning Doctor Robotnik," the weedy man uttered as he watched his master descend down the landing ramp, his robotic pet chicken in hand. "Exciting trip?"

"Perhaps Snively," the tyrant grunted, barely sparing his subordinate a second glance as he walked towards the doorway to the base proper. Silently reflecting that such an evasive answer could mean anything (but probably not something good), Snively timidly followed.

_Well, could be worse. He could have called me a twerp instead..._

Just by looking at the two humans, one could see there was a difference in power between them. Robotnik was almost as wide as he was tall, but he was taller than Snively nonetheless. A roboticized left arm, billowing yellow cape, orange hair, red eyes, red uniform...he was the power of Robotropolis. The power of Mobius, all things considered. Or _almost _all things. Snively knew that Robotnik's plans of conquest were at a crossroads. There was one hurdle for him to overcome. And in recent times, much time and energy had been spent on overcoming it.

And if he couldn't, Snively would get the blame.

As far as Cluck was concerned, the servant already _was _to blame. That, or it just liked...well, _clucking _at him at every opportunity, his master's dislike for his nephew having apparently been included in his programming. It was clucking that promptly stopped as one of its eyeballs temporarily popped out like a cuckoo out of a clock, courtesy of a remote Snively had designed for such a thing. Even if that chicken was focussed on doing his creator's dirty work, he could at least fight back. And while Robotnik fussed over his pet as it clucked in protest, it was satisfying nonetheless.

About the only piece of satisfaction he recieved.

Robotnik didn't seem to notice nor care that Cluck was continuing to cluck at the short man following him across the platform. Nor did the SWATbots-six foot tall robot enforcers, the dark paint of their bodies standing in stark contrast to the corroded iron of the architecture. Silently, Robotnik walked past them, as did Snively. Unlike Cluck, they were programmed for the most basic of functions-sentry duty, searching and destroying. And fortunately, Snively wasn't on their list of targets.

_But I know who is..._the human reflected as he followed his master to his control room. _And sooner or later, he's going to want to know about him._

Well, maybe not now, Snively reflected, as Robotnik sat down in his control chair, suited for his size and weight. Maybe Robotnik's mission _had _gone well. Maybe he would forget about their nemesis and his band of rebels. Maybe he could slip out, remove himself from the gaze of his uncle and pet and-...

"So tell me Snively. "Any hint of that troublesome hedgehog?"

Or not.

* * *

Robotnik was at a crossroads.

He knew it, Cluck knew it, and for all his idiocy, even Snively knew it. From where he stood, he was the master of Mobius. Its ruler. Its _king_. And yet, there were those who opposed him. Freedom Fighters, located in the Great Forest across the desert. Mobians who lived outside his control and opposed him at every turn. Their efforts were as flies were to an elephant, but they had nonetheless become a thorn in his side. And while a thorn could easily be removed, it could also sink in further to his flesh. So while one road led to the thorn being removed, the other led to it being embedded indefinitely. And having returned from his space trip, Robotnik had gotten straight to business. Had Snively defied expectations and come up with some useful data on their enemy? Or had his incompetence shone through again?

Given the twerp's blank stare, the dictator suspected the answer was in the negative.

"Well, Snively?" the scientist snarled. "I asked you a question. Has there, or has there not, been any news on Sonic?"

"Not exactly, Doctor Robotnik," the coward answered timidly.

"What do you mean, _not exactly_? Either there is or there isn't."

"Well I...well you see...but I thought you..."

It was so...pathetic, really. Here he was, the most powerful man on Mobius, and he had the weakest man right in front of him trying to fill his shoes while he was away. Granted, they were the only two humans on this planet, but even so...

_I should have him shot..._Robotnik mused as he watched his nephew try to spit and say that he'd failed in coming up with anything concerning the hedgehog known as Sonic, a.k.a. Target: Priority One. _It's bound to save me trouble later on. Or maybe I can have him roboticized. He can't get any less competent can he?_

"I...wait...wait a minute..."

_Or maybe he can..._

Or maybe not. Snively had ceased his attempts at explanation, but at least he had a valid reason. A light on the adjacent console was flashing, said console linked to the feeds of the surveillance orbs that roamed Robotropolis and the area around it. The consoles were blank here-the feeds were recorded in surveillance stations located throughout the city, but in his HQ, only deviations in expected visuals would be transmitted in an attempt to save bandwidth. Somewhere, a surveillance orb had detected something out of the ordinary. And as Snively activated a screen to show its feed, the somewhere turned out to be the outskirts of the Great Forest. And the something was...

_A mobian..._

A two tailed fox mobian less than ten years old by the looks of things, but a mobian nonetheless. A furry, primitive, _disgusting _mobian carrying out the equally sickening act of smelling flowers. A mobian that was no doubt one of his enemies...

"That fox..." Robotnik murmured, fighting the urge to reach through the screen and rid his world of the creature's repulsiveness. "A Freedom Fighter?"

"Affirmative, sir," Snively declared, accessing another console and drawing up a visual reference to the creature in order to access all known data. "Miles Prower, better known as Tails. Often found in the company of Sonic."

Tails...the name wasn't familiar. Sonic however, was. Sonic the Hedgehog. Older, faster and far more dangerous than this vulpine could ever be. Sonic, as in Target Priority One.

"Well, sir?" Snively asked, glancing back at his uncle. "Your orders?"

Robotnik remained silent for a moment. Taking out this mobian would be a picnic-completely ungratifying if he wasn't there to do it himself or better yet, roboticize him. A waste of time and effort for the most part. However, if Snively was correct, and this...Tails (_stupid name_), did accompany his greatest foe...then maybe this could work.

"Snively, patch me through to Bomber One," Robotnik said eventually. "He's going to go on a fox hunt."

And potentially a hedgehog hunt as well. Attack the fox, draw out the hedgehog and with any luck, two bodies would be on the forest floor by the end of the day. And if not...well, Robotnik saw it like this. Either the fox would scream for help and it would come, or it wouldn't and he'd die anyway.

Either way, his _screams _would be heard and seen just the same...

* * *

_A/N_

_So yes, this is a novelization of the pilot episode of _Sonic SatAM_. Not part of a series I'm afraid, but just a stand-alone akin to _Chaos Control Freaks_. That being said, while I like _SatAM _more than _Sonic X _overall, I do feel that the pilot episode of the former lags behind that of the latter, namely that it was indeed very much a pilot episode. That being said, while it hopefully stands up in writing here, I feel compelled to point out a few factors for both this chapter and subsequent ones._

_-My guess that Robotnik's ship in _Heads or Tails _was effectively the pilot version of his command ship that appeared in later episodes. However, this being 'my' story in a sense, I decided to have it as a shuttle, explaining why it was never seen again and how it was apparently capable of leaving Mobius (where did Robotnik even go, anyway? Explain DiC, explain!)._

_-I've kept the SWATbots as being dark-coloured, as opposed to the light coloured versions seen in the pilot. The Archie series handled this well IMO, how they kept the original scheme for the SWATbots and moved to the darker scheme for the Shadowbots. The problem with this in _SatAM _however, is that _Blast to the Past _demonstrated that the SWATbots always had the dark scheme. As such, I went with it here, as it would be a voodoo shark for me to explain why they changed to one colour and then back again._


	2. More Unwelcome Arrivals

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**Sonic the Hedgehog: Heads or Tails**

**Chapter 2: More Unwelcome Arrivals**

The desert was lifeless and merciless. And so was the buzzbomber that flew across it.

Or at least in a manner of speaking. What was mercy? What was life? What was a buzzbomber? The final question could be answered easily enough-buzzbombers were hornet-based badniks, equipped with robotic wings, jets and a laser stinger that would do more harm than even the most aggravated insect that their design was based on. And Bomber 1, the buzzbomber flying over the barren wasteland, was superior in hardware and software to its counterparts, but was a buzzbomber just the same. Jets blasting, its red eyes glowing as visual data was processed by its CPU...it was a grim reminder of how lethal Robotnik's robotic legions could be.

_Adjust thrust, increase by 7kph..._

So its hardware was covered. But what of its software? Its mercy? Its life?

Bomber 1 understood the concept of mercy, which was more than could be said for most other robots. Understood it well enough to know that there could be no room for it in this mission, any more than every other mission it had flown or had yet to do so. Actually _defining _what mercy was was still beyond it, but its role was not to understand, only to avoid.

_Approaching target area...operate under assumption that target is still within area..._

And what of life? Did its artificial intelligence make it a living being, the lack of organic components notwithstanding? Was it intelligent enough to quantify as a sapient being? It thought, therefore it was...but what was it apart from a drone designed to do its 'queen's bidding?

_Great Forest...2km._

Well, no matter. These were questions it neither had the time nor inclination for. Right now, it was inclined to follow its orders. It enjoyed them, but even if it didn't, it would follow them just the same.

_1km...target...spotted._

It would enjoy taking out Target Priority Two.

_Moving in..._

And with any luck, Target Priority One would show up as well.

_Laser primed...begin attack run..._

But if not, Bomber 1 would serve its master and have some fun while it was at it.

_Target unaware of presence...predicted result...optimal..._

And wasn't that what truly mattered?

* * *

Miles "Tails" Prower didn't particularly like flowers.

At nine years of age, this wasn't just unsurprising, but also to be expected in a sense. He was a boy. A kid. And for anyone to admit to liking flowers at that age...well, sooner or later, he'd end up with another nickname besides "Tails," and one that didn't complement his physical form. But indeed, Tails was a fox with two tails, hence the nickname. And indeed, he was on the edge of the Great Forest picking flowers. And indeed, while many other kids in Knothole would never let him live it down had they known about this, the young fox was in the position of being able to not give a robot's arse...whatever an arse was.

_Weed...weed...don't know what that is...that one smells funny..._

Tails didn't know much about flowers, hence why he'd just passed a rare _Trillium grandiflorum _and had instead set his sights on actual weeds. Being a Freedom Fighter ensured that one had to dedicate themselves to learning more important things than flora and fauna. Not that the other kids always gave him his due, insisting that he was a mascot at best, but Tails knew better. He was the friend of Sonic the Hedgehog. He had Princess Sally Acorn as an aunt. Heck, he even had power sneakers based on those of the hedgehog himself, albiet with a reversed colour scheme. So if that didn't make him a Freedom Fighter...well, screw it. He was picking flowers. He knew that he'd made Sally stay up later than she cared for last night as she read him the last chapters of _Peter Pigeon _and he figured flowers were the best way to make it up to her.

Or weeds. He was picking them at least.

_And...that should do it, _the mobian reflected as he picked up the last specimen of his bouquet in the making. _Red, white, yellow, purple...would be nice to get more colours of the rainbow though, but..._

Rainbows...he'd been told about them, and seen pictures of them in books, but couldn't remember ever seeing a decent one. Only at the edge of the Great Forest was there enough open space to see through the forest canopy, the trees giving way to grassland which in turn gave way to the desert that in turn led to Robotropolis. Such cover provided Mobius's last free citizens sanctuary from Robotnik, but such secrecy had its price to pay. Indeed, coming out this far from Knothole Village was a luxury, and even with Sonic and Rotor close by, Tails knew on some level that he was pushing his luck. Still, that level was the basement, whilst the penthouse (whatever a penthouse was) was filled with thoughts of seeing Sally's face once he presented her with his pickings. Pickings that the fox gave a sniff of his own. The final check. And the first sneeze.

**A-chooo!**

Tails knew that sniffs and sneezes spread diseases, but still hadn't had time to cover his nose, much to his guilt. Even if Robotnik didn't send his monsters after them, the pollution of his empire might poison them just the same. Something had to be done, and while the odds were stacked against them, the Freedom Fighters had nonetheless decided to take the fight to Robotnik as best they could. A fight that as far as the fox was concerned, he was part of, damn such talk of being too young. A fight that as he heard a buzzing sound, had come to him...

_Oh no...oh no..._

...in the most unexpected way possible.

_Eeek!_

A giant, robotic..._bee _was flying over the flowers nearby, but with no intention of pollinating them. Robotic wings, jets, and a stinger as red as its eyes made it clear that if Tails were the proverbial flower, he was about to be uprooted. Certainly it was flying towards him, ready to...

"No!"

The mobian instinctively dived to the ground, the robot missing him. He felt the breeze it brought however, one strong enough to take the flowers out of his hand.

_Alright, you big..._

...well, big just about summed it up. Tails knew he was a Freedom Fighter...but sometimes, discretion was...something...running?

Or flying. Which was what the bee was doing, getting ready to make another pass. It _made _another pass...

...and missed, as Tails dived to the side, beginning flight of his own. Once a source of laughs, his two tails had given him the gift of flight, spinning around like a helicopter. It was a gift that Tails was extremely grateful for, one that Sonic had unlocked for him.

_Sonic..._

Tails wanted to stay here. Wanted to show this giant bee how great a Freedom Fighter he was. Yet maybe it needed someone else to teach it a lesson. Someone who would smash it real good. Maybe someone like Sonic...

...and letting both fear and instinct take over as he took flight, searching for his hero, Miles "Tails" Prower realized he needed him as well.

* * *

Rotor the Walrus was an engineer. A handyman. And the guy who was Knothole's first choice for fixing and building kitchen sinks.

Not that he was fixing or building kitchen appliances right now, but given the number of tools that were spread around his open backpack, he would certainly have been able to build one had he the raw materials at hand. Hammer, wrench, screwdriver, fish...all he needed. Tools, and the energy to use them. Energy that he'd finished in a single gulp. Carp was a bit of a luxury nowadays as more and more of the forest's rivers became polluted by Robotnik, but damnit, he was hungry. So if he was going to have lunch in one bite, so be it. Besides, as much as the Freedom Fighter loved tinkering in his worship, coming out here, in the peace and quiet of this meadow...well, sometimes, one had to enjoy the simple things.

"You ready Rotor?"

"Ready!"

And the not so simple.

Rotor knew this was coming. Knew that he was about to hear the riff of a polycarbonate guitar. But nothing could fully prepare him for the sudden appearance of the one playing it, nor the lyrics/shouting.

_Hey hey, Sal, don't you call me a fool!_

'_Cuz you know I'm way past cool!_

_Way past cool!_

And cue final chord. Oh, and Sonic's smirk. Because while the blue, teenage hedgehog was the fastest thing alive, and likely the most agile as well, he was also perhaps the most egotistical one as well. Well, besides Antoine at least.

"Way past cool, huh?" Sonic asked, moving his arms around wildly as if to illustrate how way past cool he really was. "How do you like the entrance? You know the way I come flyin' in; hit the old Axel Rose coze, right on the down beat."

"It's…good," the walrus said honestly, albiet being more impressed with the numerous spins his friend had pulled off in his performance. "But this is for Sally, right? It's gotta be softer, not hard rock."

_And more about…well, her…_

"Softer?" Sonic exclaimed, still flailing his arms but for different reasons. "Whaddya mean, _softer_? Oh I hate softer! Softer is for pillows, for ice cream! Music has gotta move! It's gotta be pedal to the metal! It's gotta-…"

"Or, you could try another musical style," Rotor interrupted, enjoying the hedgehog's tirade almost as much as he'd enjoyed lunch. "I mean, this is for Sally right? A way of saying, sorry I couldn't stop you falling into that chemical bath last month?"

"Hey, I may be fast, but-…"

"Hey, it's sweet," the walrus smirked. "But, if you want to win her hea…I mean forgiveness, you need to try something else. Say, a ballard."

"Ballad-shmallad! Now come on Rotor, you've gotta have better ideas than that."

Admittedly, the walrus didn't. Music was a science in itself, mathematics given a voice. However, it was a science that he'd never really studied and while Sonic could play his guitar well, it was far more based on feeling than precision. It was how he operated in almost all his tasks as the champion of the Freedom Fighters, a living poser boy, with everything from his blue spines to red and white power sneakers. He was-…

"**Soniccccc!"**

…being called to.

"Tails?" Rotor exclaimed, shifting his gaze away from his still protesting friend to find the source of the sound. "Did he-…"

"Yeah, he did…and not because of my performance." Sonic turned to Rotor. "Wasn't Tails picking flowers?"

"Well, yeah…or he was…two minutes ago…"

Sonic tossed the mechanic the guitar, letting gravity take its course. And speeding off in a cloud of dust, kinetic energy took its course as well. Science was a wonderful thing.

And as he assuaged his worry with the aftermath of Sonic's speed and a second helping of fish, Rotor reflected that lunch could be quite wonderful as well.

* * *

It was like watching a horror movie. Only in this case, Robotnik was rooting for the killer.

What made it all the more gratifying was that he was able to see this at all. While Robotropolis was crawling with surveillance orbs, sending the devices into the Great Forest was next to useless, given how easily they could be destroyed by the mobians that dwelt there. And considering that they could use the recorded feeds to gain footage of Robotropolis, it was potentially counter-productive as well. The device observing both Bomber 1 and the fox however, was a prototype, with a longer lasting power supply and was more resilient to damage. Perhaps even resilient enough to withstand the lasers buzzbombers fired.

Lasers such as the one Bomber 1 could fire at the vulpine, and blow him out of the sky.

"Sonic! Help me! Sonic!"

"Heh heh…the foul little beast is ours, Cluck…" Robotnik mused, rubbing his hands together as he watched the transmission from the drone, a panning shot showing the Freedom Fighter flying for his life as Bomber 1 pursued him. "Now all we have to do is…"

**Whoosh!**

_Excellent…_

It was hard to make out given the hedgehog's speed, but Sonic had undoubtedly showed up, and was in pursuit of Bomber 1. The fox was as good as dead already, but with the hedgehog present…finally, this could be brought to an end.

"Bomber One, this is Robotnik. Target Priority One is within your proximity. Proceed to engage."

…

"Bomber One, did you receive me?"

Robotnik hoped that wasn't the case in a way. If it was, it meant that the buzzbomber was ignoring his orders and more important, ignoring the rapidly approaching hedgehog. Instead it was firing its laser at the fox and as far as Robotnik could tell, actually intended to take him out.

"Bomber One, the hedgehog is directly behind you!" the scientist exclaimed, thumping down on the console as he did so! Forget the small one! Get Sonic! Get him! **Get him!**"

He almost did. Firing at the fox, but missing thanks to the hedgehog zooming ahead and grabbing him out of harm's way, Sonic was almost hit. Almost…

"**Shoot him! Shoot him!"**

To its credit, Bomber 1 tried, firing at the hedgehog and/or its passenger. And fired again. And again. And again. And…well, it kept firing, it kept missing and the only time it hit something was when…

"Bomber One, you imbecilic…"

…hit the drone, disabling it. Again, to its rapidly diminishing credit, Bomber 1 stopped firing at this point. But that was all the time Sonic needed to grab the drone's tattered engine and toss it at the buzzbomber. A potentially volatile engine. An engine that Bomber 1 fired at, detonating it at close range.

An explosion that was as nothing compared to the one Robotnik made in his anger.

* * *

"Hey Sonic! Over here!"

Rotor didn't need to point out the disabled drone, nor did Sonic need prompting to head over to it. It was a stroke of luck that the buzzbomber's laser had hit the device, a stroke that Sonic had sent right back at it with its engine. Disabled as the device was, the hedgehog couldn't resist looking at his handiwork.

"Sonic…that was…"

"Hang tight Tails," the teen said as he lowered his friend to the ground. "Big bad robot can't hurt you now."

"Yeah, but…well, way past cool, bro!"

Sonic grinned. "Anytime, buddy. Anytime."

And he meant it. Speed, adventure, making Robotnik look like more of a bozo than he really was…Sonic lived for it. The thrill, the danger…this was nothing compared to what he'd faced in the past, but he was willing to take his fun where he could find it. And safe in the knowledge that his friends were alright as well, he could revel in his victory and anticipate the next one.

"A drone…" Rotor mused, as he knelt down and peered at the eye-like camera. "Like a surveillance orb, but more…"

"Sturdy?"

"Yeah, I guess. Still, with any luck, we might be able to retrieve its…"

"**Get your paws off it you lard-bucket!"**

Sonic raised an eyebrow as Tails let out a yelp and Rotor recoiled. "Guessing we're not retrieving its voice box then."

"**You'll retrieve nothing!"**

The eyebrow was lowered. Sonic knew that voice. Most of Knothole did. And like most of Knothole, hearing the robotic growl of Doctor Ivo Ro_butt_nik made him want to send the scientist to the next planet without a spacesuit.

"Piece of news, bucket-head," the Freedom Fighter sneered as he peered at the camera, hoping it was still transmitting. "But this drone's ours now. It's history. Just like your rule is going to be."

Robotnik didn't answer, which gave Sonic all the time he needed to pick up a rock and get ready to destroy the camera. Best to destroy it quickly and besides, he couldn't get much gratification if he couldn't see the scientist's ugly mug screwed up in frustration. Now to…

"**Wait!"**

And Sonic did.

"**Mark my words, hedgehog…" **the robotic voice said slowly. **"Before this day is done, you, and the power rings, will be right…in the palm…of my hand."**

"Yeah, well, forgive me if I don't hold my breath," Sonic snorted. "See you round, tubby. Or not."

And as the camera was destroyed, "or not" became the case.

* * *

_A/N_

_So, that's chapter 2 done. Can't say there's too much to comment on, though it's perhaps worth noting that the drone that appears in the pilot is, in my opinion, effectively the pilot version of the surveillance orbs that appeared in later episodes. Still, made it a unique drone here, capable of operating by itself, whereas in contrast, survaillance orbs never drifted far from their control hub, whether it be Robotropolis or Robotnik's command ship._

_And adressing comments made by another reviewer, I'd wager that Sky Spy was the series's equivalent of the Death Egg, such as the power stones standing in for Chaos Emeralds and the Floating Island standing in for Angel Island. Go figure._


	3. Of Knothole and Cotter Pins

.

**Sonic the Hedgehog: Heads or Tails**

**Chapter 3: Of Knothole and Cotter Pins**

"**No, no, no, no!"**

Robotnik was angry. So angry in fact, that he'd exclaimed "no" four times rather than the usual three. Maybe it was because saying "no" three times had become standard in the first place, maybe it was because Sonic had rubbed it in his face directly, but either way, three "no's" no longer seemed to cover it.

"We...we've lost transmission, sir..." Snively stammered from somewhere in the room.

"Well, _thank you _for your uncanny observation," the dictator snarled, turning away from the static that filled the screen before him. "I never would have _guessed _that I lost a long-range surveillance drone to that loud-mouthed porcupine."

"Actually sir, Sonic's a hedgehog. Porcupines are-..."

"**Shut up!"**

Robotnik began pacing around the room, keeping his gaze to the floor. Let Snively watch him in the fear he'd incurred upon himself. Let Cluck worry about his next head adjustment. Let the whole world see that despite this setback, he wasn't out of the game. Yes...he was playing the game. He _was _the game. He was...was...

"Bomber One..." the scientist said eventually, picking up an ear radio linked to the buzzbomber. "Are you still functioning?"

A few beeps of morse code later, and the answer was "yes."

"Then get back here at once, you blustering bee!"

"Sir, Bomber One may find it difficult to-..."

"No excuses Snively!" Robotnik barked, turning to face his nephew and letting both size and weight do the rest of the talking for him. "I have no use for them any more than I have use for faulty badniks, incompetent assistants, or obnoxious hedgehogs!"

"But sir, I didn't..."

Snively fell silent, showing that deep down, he at least had _some _intelligence. Enough intelligence to realize that this was his fault, and that if he valued his continued existence, he would be as silent as the grave he already had one foot in.

_Maybe I should take the foot out and go ahead and roboticize him..._

"Sir, another transmission from Bomber One..." Robotnik's lackey stammered, having glanced at another computer console. "It's operational, but barely. It'll take hours to make it to Robotropolis, and that's assuming it will make the trip at all."

"Good," Robotnik snarled. "Then it'll learn that this is the price of failure."

"But sir..."

"Bomber One's AI allows it to learn. And like you Snively, you must learn that if you fail me, there will be consequences. Just as the Freedom Fighters must learn that their continued defiance won't go unpunished."

"But...how?"

"Leave the thinking to me Snively, it obviously isn't your strong suit," the doctor grunted, taking up Cluck on his arm. He headed for the exit. "You have the control room Snively, alert me when Bomber One returns. Until then...well, try not to blow the place up.

_Or _do _blow it up, and save me the inconvenience of dealing with your incompetence in the future..._

Still, unlike Snively, Robotnik knew what the future would bring. And both his servants would have a role to play in it. A future that was linked to his threat to Sonic. A threat that he meant every word of.

A future in which the Freedom Fighters would play no part at all...

* * *

Silence...the state of nature. Silence apart from the sound of the breeze. Silence apart from the rustle of the leaves the wind caused. Silence apart from the songs of birds. Silence apart from-...

"Wake up call guys, the hedgehog has landed."

...that.

Actually the silence had been broken a few seconds beforehand, namely the 'whooshing' sound of a hedgehog travelling at a few hundred miles per hour. Silence that he could have potentially superseded had he chosen to go fast enough to break the sound barrier. Still, that required effort even for the fastest thing alive, and he was perfectly happy at going at a fraction of that speed. And with Tails and Rotor having caught a lift with him (Tails in his backpack and Rotor hanging on for dear life as Sonic's momentum prevented him from touching the ground), he could only go so fast without risking them.

"Wow!" exclaimed Tails, springing out of his idol's backpack and gazing around the forest, as if unable to comprehend that only a few minutes ago, they'd been on its edge. "We're here already? How fast did we go?"

"We were scootin' and rootin' little bro."

"Aw, no way! Scootin' and rootin'?"

"Yep..." Rotor said weakly as he rested one paw against a tree with another on his forehead. "Scootin' and rootin'..."

_Poor Rotor..._the hedgehog reflected. _Big guy isn't used to this..._

Maybe it was subconscious revenge. Sonic knew the importance of accessing the drone's data as much as he understood the importance of making sure that Robotnik couldn't track any components they might take with them to analyse back at Knothole. Rotor had done his work quickly and efficiently, but still not nearly fast enough for the mobian's liking. Still, they were here now. Rotor could tinker in his workshop, Tails could do whatever he liked and he...

"Anyway, we should go," Rotor said. "Sally will want our help on the catapults."

"Oh..." Sonic murmured, remembering the weapons the Freedom Fighters had been working on the past month. "Right...the catapults..."

Well, first things first. And if this point in time was to be considered the beginning of their trip, then pulling the vine that revealed the entrance to the Great Oak Slide was the first step.

Knothole Village was located in a valley within the heart of the Great Forest. Distance from Robotropolis allowed its residents to make plans to counter any scouts Robotnik might send, and its depth and tree cover allowed them cover from any aerial reconnaissance. Blessed with fertile soil, running water and a temperate climate, it was Mobius's last refuge from the power-hungry dictator, a bastion of freedom and the natural world. If not for Robotnik's goal to seize absolute power and the pollution from Robotropolis, it might have been possible to live there and never worry about the scientist. Still, that wasn't an option, and even if it were...well, where would the fun have been in that? No...Knothole would be a temporary home, serving its inhabitants until they could restore Robotropolis to its former beauty and give it back its original name. And until that day, preserving Knothole's location was paramount. So while there were other ways out of the valley, the Great Oak Slide (so named from being a hollowed great oak acting as a slide down to the valley floor) existed, it was their primary means of entry. And one that the trio were about to use.

"Can I ride with you Sonic?" Tails asked as the hedgehog stepped up towards the slide. "Huh? Huh?"

"You wanna ride with me?" the Freedom Fighter asked rhetorically.

"Yeah yeah yeah!"

"Sorry bud, no can do. The guidelines clearly state that only one person rides at a time."

_One...two...three..._

"Just kidding, let's juice!"

Two "huhs" and three "yeahs..." how could Sonic have said no to that? And Tails pulling the kind of despondent face only a kid could pull off as well, but he'd convinced his friend to give him a ride anyway. Sonic knew he owed Tails that much at least. Owed him the thrills of the slide, its loops, its turns, the laughter the fox got out of it...Sonic was his "bro" as the case was, and the hedgehog was perfectly fine with that relationship. But even if he never admitted it, even if Sally had to keep reminding him of it, his responsibilities to the young mobian extended far beyond that. And while he could be a bit more lax with that responsibility than Tails's "aunt," that wasn't to say he didn't take it seriously.

Most of the time...

The two laughed in exhilaration as they flew out of the oak, landing in the mound of hay that had been set up for such landings. Light and lithe as they were, neither of them made much of an impact in it. Two grinning needles, as the case was, only without anyone looking to find them. A case of...

"Incoming!"

_Oh no...oh no..._

"Catapult!"

Catapult indeed...if catapults launched heavy walruses through slides to land on a mound of hay with two mobians still within it. Hay that was soon spread everywhere, with a walrus sitting on a fox and hedgehog.

"Sorry about that guys..." Rotor said sheepishly. "Thought you were outside the hay..."

"_You're_ sorry?" Sonic asked as he crawled out from the mess. "We're not a bunch of _straw_heads here."

Tails laughed...which was surprising, considering that he looked like he could barely breathe. Luckily, as the handyman shifted his bulk, the issue was solved.

"Sally's not going to like this..." Rotor murmured as he glanced at both the hay and a pocket watch. "We're late for the catapults and..."

"Yeah, and you just got in some practice," Sonic interrupted. "Come on guys, let's juice."

* * *

This was war. A struggle of nature against technology. A battle where no quarter would be asked or given. A struggle with truth, justice and the mobian way on one side, with tyranny, brutality and the rule of Robotnik on the other. A battle that Antoine Deparidieu would play an important role in..._was _playing an important role in. A role even greater than the catapults the Freedom Fighters were working on.

The coyote stood tall and proud, with the confidence that only those wearing a uniform could muster. A uniform that was a bit too big for him (having belonged to his father) and a blonde wig that wasn't as secure on his head as he'd like to boot, but a uniform all the same.

"Ah darn it, this arm's broke. Stand back fellas."

A good leader knew how to inspire their subordinates. Case in point Bunnie Rabbot, so named for being half organic and half robotic, caught in the middle of a robotization process. A process that not even Antoine's gallantry could have saved her from, but had nevertheless given the southern rabbit the best of both worlds-legs and a left arm giving her boundless strength in both cases. Strength enough even to throw a broken catapult arm to one side, the silly thing having broken under the payload.

"Tres bien, Bunnee, tres bien," Antoine declared in his native tongue. "Now, pick up this one over here."

"Why Antoine, I do declare, whatever would I do without you?" the rabbit asked.

"Ah, it's nothing really."

"Do tell."

Well, maybe he would, were Bunnie to possess the same leadership skills he did. But only so many could rise to his greatness, and Bunnie, for all her strength, had yet to reach it. Only one among all of Knothole was worthy of his complete and utter trust...

"Yo, Sally girl..." Bunnie called out as she lifted the arm to one of the catapults. "I'm not complainin', but have yer figured out why these here silly throwin' arms keep breakin'?"

"We're working on it Bunnie. Just hang in there."

Ah, her voice...as beautiful as the lines of a _tragedie lyrique_, yet as bright as the sun on a summer's day...apple of his eye, she made him melt like butter on toast...

"Alright, I've run an algorithm," Sally called out from the computer terminal that had been set up in the clearing. "Hopefully we can work out how these things can support more weight."

Weight...like the weight of the moment closing in on Antoine. Now or never...this was his time...

"Ohhh...if I may say, Princess Sally, how _belle _you are when you work."

"Antoine, please, don't call me princess. Out here, the only royalty is Mother Nature."

"Ah, so modest..." Antoine declared as he kissed her hand. "But to me, you shall always be royalty."

And to everyone else in a way. Princess Sally Acorn, daughter of the missing King Maximillian Acorn, leader of both Knothole and the Freedom Fighters. Her hair and fur slightly lighter thanks to a chemical bath she'd fallen into on a mission to Robotropolis recently, but beautiful all the same. Her regality, her deep blue eyes...eyes that Antoine knew were always focussed on him, even if she might deny it. It was destiny...and he, champion of the Freedom Fighters, would seize it.

Yet the coyote knew patience, so he would gracefully stand aside. Wait until true love bound them as surely as he supervised the construction of these catapults...

...life was good.

* * *

_Wish I had Nicole with me..._

Then again, Sally Acorn wished a lot of things. She wished that Robotnik hadn't seized power in a coup nine years ago, robbing her of her father, her home and placing her in charge of the last free mobians outside his rule. She wished that she hadn't botched that mission a month ago, robbing her of her natural fur colour and of her personal computer Nicole, which even now, was still initiating a system reboot. And she certainly wished that the catapults the Freedom Fighters were building wouldn't keep breaking every time they tried to increase their payload.

_Wish Sonic was here too. Wasn't he actually going to help out to-..._

Sally shook it off. She had more important things to worry about than juvenile hedgehogs.

The princess briefly glanced up from the computer that Rotor had provided, seeing the walrus studying part of the catapult in front of her. It was almost a game in a sense, to see whether her computer simulations or his hands-on experience would solve the mystery first. Still, as long as it was solved, the chipmunk didn't care. Anything that could help them in the fight against Robotnik was welcome to her.

**Simulation Complete**

_Good, so maybe...oh...so it's the..._

"Cotter pins."

Sally looked up, Rotor looked down, Bunnie threw aside another broken arm and Antoine...well, Sally didn't know what Antoine was doing right now. But it didn't matter. The mystery had been solved.

"Sounds like we agree on the cause..." Sally said as she walked up to join Rotor. "Got a detailed diagnosis?"

"Yeah, sure," the walrus answered, clearly enjoying this. He gestured to the cotter pins within the frame that supported the arm. "We're using wooden cotter pins. They're simply not strong enough."

"So then...they need to be metal..." Sally mused. "Got any?"

"Maybe..." Rotor said awkwardly. "And hey, I'm not the only one in Knothole that can forge metal. But...well..."

Sally understood immediately. There were many advantages to living in the Great Forest, but there were disadvantages to be dealt with as well. One of them was an inability to access materials such as iron ore, said deposits being located in areas under the control of Robotnik. They'd been able to get by, but usually by scavenging.

"But to get metal cotter pins..."

**Whoosh**

"...never mind."

So. The "fastest thing alive" had _finally _decided to show up. Well, that was good. All work, no play, Sally reflected that she could use a...

_Wait...I'm angry. Angry!_

Or irritated. Just like Antoine, who she heard mention something about smelling a foul odour. But hopefully not like the coyote in regards to being sent into a spin as Sonic ran past him.

"Ant Ant Ant," Sonic laughed as he steadied his...acquaintance. "You look a little green..."

Antoine didn't respond. Nor did Sonic to Sally's "ahem."

"Actually, you look better for it," the hedgehog continued as he grinned at the coyote. "You should keep it."

"**Ahem!"**

There. That got Sonic's attention, the hedgehog running over to face his oldest friend (more or less...). At least he had the courtesy to actually stop in front of her, but it was a courtesy Sally barely appreciated.

"Tell me Sonic..." the princess began slowly. "Who's standing behind me?"

"Um, Rotor?"

"Exactly," the mobian declared. "Rotor...who told me that you said you'd come by to help us after dropping off Tails at the ring lake."

"I did."

"No doubt. But that was _three hours ago_. How is it that Rotor got here before you did?"

"Well...um...had things to do...and..."

"Things such as eating chilli dogs and, using the broadest possible definition of the word, _composing _music?"

Sonic fell silent, giving Sally no end to her satisfaction. They were like two sides of the same coin, some people said. Sally-calm, rational, and the one who made the plans. Sonic-impetuous, fast, and the one who carried out the plans. And the one who was usually doing the talking in situations like these, hence the princess's pleasure in the role reversal. And as to the two sides of the same coin thing...well, if that was the case, the Kingdom of Acorn needn't to rely solely on bank notes.

_Still, if we are two sides, I wonder which side I would..._

"Okay, okay, so I'm late," Sonic said eventually. "But hey, I'm here now, aren't I? And what about yesterday?"

"What about it?"

"Didn't I help yesterday?"

"Nope."

"No?" Sonic exclaimed, as if unable to believe it.

"Is that an echo?" Sally asked. "The acoustics out here can be so-..."

"Well, what about the day before yesterday?" the hedgehog asked. "Didn't I-..."

"Sonic, enough!" Sally exclaimed, feeling a headache coming on. "Are you going to help us, or not?"

"Sure. I was, I can, I am."

"Thank you," Sally said, walking over to the catapult. "Now, I've got a job for-..."

"I was built for speed and born for danger," Sonic declared, zooming in front of her as if part of a sing-along. "Speed's my middle name, danger is my game-..."

"This is not a _game _Sonic!" Sally exclaimed. "And if you don't stop treating it like one, I'll take you down to zero lives!"

"...so, this isn't a game and I have extra lives? I mean, that sounds cool, but..."

Sonic trailed off, much to Sally's relief. At least he knew when to stop, which was more than she could say for Antoine at times.

"Princess, if this loudmouth is causing you-..."

"I'm fine Antoine, go back to supervising."

Correction-she wasn't fine. She'd set herself a deadline for these catapults, and while she was technically not under any obligation to keep it, she wanted them useable as soon as possible. The Freedom Fighters were outnumbered and outgunned by Robotnik's robots, and if the catapults could help even the odds, then it was a game changer she wanted as soon as possible.

"We've run into a snag with the catapults," Sally said, gesturing to the frame of the one Rotor was standing on. "Long story short, we need metal cotter pins for them. The type you can probably get in Robotropolis."

"Great...but what's a cotter pin?"

Sally held up one of the wooden ones Rotor had taken out.

"I knew that," Sonic lied. He turned to Rotor. "Come on Rotor, we gotta do the ring thing."

And with that, they whooshed off. Or rather Sonic did with Rotor hanging on. Or rather, Sonic got out of doing any manual labour _again_.

"Why, that impetuous little hedgehog. I do apologize ma princess..."

Sally drowned out Antoine's words, reflecting on Sonic's lack of work in the Great Forest, and the amount of work he'd been doing in Robotropolis...

...letting out a sigh, she didn't know whether to be annoyed or apprehensive.

* * *

**Approaching Robotropolis. Destination, landing pad one, main HQ. ETA...**

"Just get over here you wasted wasp!"

**...yes sir.**

Bomber 1 glanced down at the city of Robotropolis as it approached Robotnik's HQ. SWATbots, hover units, robians...all drones. All mindless. All without free will, or the desire for it. All below him both figuratively and literally. All with AIs too primitive to even know the difference between the two. And in a sense, all of them were lucky. They didn't have to worry about their master's wrath. No...only it did. And Snively of course...

**Speaking of which...**

The buzzbomber stared at the landing pad, with Robotnik and his lackey standing tall (not that Snively was actually tall), either oblivious to or ignoring its failing jets. It was as if his master wanted him to suffer (if such a concept was truly applicable), to punish him for his failure in the Great Forest. A punishment it deserved in a sense, but still...surely Robotnik realized that it was still one of its most capable robots.

Well, as it landed and Robotnik instead patted Cluck, clearly the scientist didn't think so.

"You're late," Robotnik grunted.

The buzzbomber lowered its head in apology. No need to send a data burst to Robotnik's PDA/radio. No need to move as the scientist gestured for some nearby SWATbots to pick it up.

"You'll be repaired," Robotnik said. "More trouble than you're worth Bomber One, but I have a job for you."

**I'm willing to serve.**

"Of course you are." The doctor turned to the SWATbots. "Make sure it's ready to serve in a few hours time."

The SWATbots nodded their domed heads. Drones. The lot of them.

_But I'm independent and serve Robotnik as well...so am I different?_

It was a moot stream of data and Bomber 1 shut it down immediately.

After all, if it didn't serve its creator, the one who had given him such sophisticated AI in the first place...

...what else was there?

* * *

"Is it time yet?"

"Any second now."

It seemed almost unfair to Tails as far as Rotor was concerned. The kid wanted to be a Freedom Fighter and in the fox's own mind, already was one. Yet at best all he could do was hang out with them or in this case, be assigned to what the group referred to as "ring duty." In other words, watching over the dubbed Lake of Rings that contained the ring forge device, making sure that not only was someone there to get it, but also to ensure that someone like Robotnik didn't find out about it.

_And considering what the rings can do, that's hardly surprising..._Rotor reflected, staring at the water alongside Sonic and Tails. _If he got his hands on them..._

"Hey...one's coming! One's coming!"

...well, he wouldn't react like that. Probably more along the lines of evil laughter, thunder and lightning.

Standing on the log that stretched out towards the centre of the lake, Sonic held Tails at its tip, letting the young mobian get his hands on the golden ring, eclipsing the light of the setting sun. Effectively energy condensed into solid form, the Freedom Fighters recieved a new ring every twelve hours, give or take. Against Robotnik, the power rings were perhaps their best weapon, and apart from Knothole's location, their most well kept secret.

"Thanks bud," the hedgehog said to his friend as he placed the ring in his backpack. "Couldn't have done it without ya."

"Bet you could have if you'd got another ring on you," Tails laughed, ignorant to the fatherly lie Sonic had told. "Betcha could have-..."

"Hey, this ring's for backup. Sally's playing nanny again."

Like she always did, Rotor knew, but it was a role that Sonic didn't object to when it came to power rings. They'd been created by his uncle Sir Charles during the Great War as a new energy source, one that also could be used to give Sonic a temporary boost of energy. In the latter regard, only Sonic could use rings this way, possibly due to his already high stamina, speed and agility. As an energy source though, they had practically universal applications. Everything from power generation in Knothole, to the horrific things Robotnik might do with them.

_And he knows it, _the walrus reflected as the three walked back to the lakeside. _He said so himself back at the meadow...said they'd be in his grasp within..._

"Yo Rotor! Eyes down here!"

Height differences and dreaming. What a day.

"You know, I like a light backpack," Sonic said smugly. "But, er...don't you have something else?"

"Huh? Oh, right."

Fishing around through his own backpack (and avoiding the dry fish within it), Rotor pulled out one of the wooden cotter pins for the catapults. Useful in itself, but useless as far as the weapons were concerned.

"Here," the walrus said. "Get as many of these as you can, but they have to be metal. You'll probably be able to find some at an industrial dump yard."

Sonic nodded as he pocketed the cotter pin. While Robotropolis was a blight on Mobius, Robotnik at least had the courtesy to keep much of his waste inside his own city. Waste that was often in better working order than the dictator gave it credit for, and waste that the Freedom Fighters were only too happy to take off his hands.

"Salvage mission, huh?" Sonic asked. "Can't I take at least one bomb with me?"

Rotor snorted as he and Sonic did the Freedom Fighter handshake. A handshake that Tails watched in rapt attention, as if it were to be part of the test he'd have to take when he came of age.

"Well, gotta juice guys. See ya in-..."

"Um, Sonic?"

Rotor looked down. Sonic looked down. Tails looked up.

"I, was er...wondering..." said the young fox awkwardly. "I mean...it's just a salvage mission right?"

"Yeah..." said Sonic, glancing at Rotor. "Could do more, but some stuffy princess thinks I-..."

"Well...I was wondering...could I...come?"

Sonic stopped talking. Rotor's jaw dropped. Somewhere, a bird stopped singing.

"Um, bro?" the hedgehog said eventually. "I...well..."

Rotor felt sorry for his friend. He knew what it was like to turn down a child, in a sense. Having lived in the Northern Tundra for much of his life, his parents often forbid him from moving off the ice into the potentially treacherous depths of the North Sea. They were decisions he'd hated, but in hindsight, were decisions that had probably kept him alive. And here Sonic was doing the same, only Tails was more of a brother to him. And how could Sonic lay down the line when he crossed it so often?

"Well, Sonic?"

"Sorry bud...but no."

_Hmm...guess he laid it down better than I thought._

"But...but..." Tails stammered. "I mean...I'm a Freedom Fighter, right?"

"Yeah..." Sonic said slowly, glancing at Rotor for help the walrus wasn't sure how to give. "That's why...we need you here. For ring duty."

"But I just got another ring!"

"Well, there you go. Only another twelve hours."

Sonic smiled awkwardly. A wasted endeavour as Tails's facial features resembled anything but a smile.

"Fine!" the fox yelled, taking flight with his twin tails. "See if I care!"

The two teens watched as their friend took off. Both could see that he did care. Could see it a lot.

"You know, Rotor..." Sonic said eventually. "If Sally doesn't know..."

"Forget it Sonic," the walrus said firmly. "Tails's shift has ended. If he's outside Knothole...well, Sally will be aware of it."

"Yeah...yeah..." the hedgehog sighed. He glanced at Rotor. "See ya pal."

"So long. Stay cool."

* * *

"Argh! Stupid tree!"

Trees...tall...stupid...barky...hard...unbreakable...formerly unbreakable...about to be broken...

"Ow!"

...no, they were still unbreakable.

One might have question why Miles "Tails" Prower was repeatedly slamming into the redwood. One might have gone a step further and asked why the fox was outside Knothole at all, considering the diminishing sunlight. And if one was in the mood to ask even more questions, they might have asked why he was so angry.

"Alright, you stupid..."

As far as Tails was concerned, he could answer all those questions. He was slamming into a tree to get his strength up. Sonic could cut through them with his spin attack, so why couldn't he be that strong also? He was outside Knothole because that was the best place to practice, and he didn't want to be anywhere near his so-called friends. And as to the question as to why he was angry...well, "so-called friends" pretty much summed it up.

"Ow!"

...and unbreakable trees.

Sighing, the self-proclaimed Freedom Fighter stayed sitting on the ground, unable to summon the physical or mental energy needed for another blow. It was so unfair, all of it. He wasn't as strong, fast or cool as his brother, but surely he'd earnt his trust to be allowed on a measly salvage mission? He'd been with the Freedom Fighters as long as he could remember, and yet they still treated him like a child. So what if he was younger than them? So what if he could get hurt? So what if...

"Tails? What are you doing out here?"

It was actually the blast of air that alerted Tails to Sonic's presence before the hedgehog's voice, even if he wasn't travelling faster than the speed of sound. Still, sight was his primary sense, and looking up at the hedgehog that appeared in front of him, it was the sense the mobian found himself relying on.

"Hey pal..." the fox said meekly. "What's up?"

"Oh, the sky, the clouds...maybe the moon. Think it's a crescent one tonight." Sonic let out a chuckle, trying to break the ice and doing so as well as Tails had against the tree. "What about you bro? Shouldn't you be back at Knothole?"

"No...no I'm not," Tails said firmly. He rose to his feet. "I'm on a mission. Just like you."

"Uh-huh."

"Yep," Tails declared, walking past his idol. "Off to Robotropolis."

Sonic appeared in front of him again, letting Tails bounce off him as surely as he did against the redwood. "I'm excited for you little bro, but that's nowhere near cool."

"Oh yeah?" Tails snarled. "And why's that? Why can you go and I can't?"

"Well...partly because Sally says so. She's being too 'aunty'"

Tails let out a snort. (_Wait...I'm supposed to be mad!_)

"But seriously bro, the city's kinda out of your league..." Sonic continued. "SWATbots around every corner...hover units..."

"I can handle them."

"Many have said that..." said Sonic, lowering his voice as if he were about to tell his friend one of his ghost stories. "But they couldn't. The darkness...the steel...the lasers...some went _mad_. Others...weren't so lucky...sometimes I can still hear the wails...their ghosts are still there...and then there's the _roboticizer_..."

"The...the..."

"The robots are all just waiting for sweet little mobians to come to town...so they can _roboticize _you..."

"They...they are?" Tails stammered.

"Sure," Sonic said. "Just waiting for you to make one wrong move..."

Tails fell silent, feeling a chill run through his fur that wasn't due to the evening breeze. Robots were one thing. Ghosts were another. Even the roboticizer...but put them all together?

"I...I...I guess I should go then..." the young mobian said quietly. "Just...head back to Knothole..."

_Wait! You can't give up! Not yet!_

"But it's a long way back," Tails continued, his courage/conscience doing the talking for him. "So if a buzzbomber gets real mad and gobbles me up...I bet you're going to feel just terrible."

_Hopefully he feels terrible enough already, _said spite.

The rest of his emotions told spite to shut up. Sonic was right. Maybe he wasn't cut out for this. Maybe he wasn't ready to be a Freedom Fighter. Maybe...

"Okay, okay, wait up."

Tails did so, unable to believe his luck.

"Know I'm going to regret this...but you can come."

"Wow Sonic! You're the-..."

"But listen," said the hedgehog firmly. "You stay in my backpack and guard the power ring, okay? It's an important job, and I need someone I can trust. Got it?"

"Got it!" exclaimed Tails, doing a quick version of the FF handshake with his friend. A version that was still longer than the time it took for him to hop into Sonic's backpack. A backpack that apart from the power ring and cotter pin, was surprisingly roomy.

"All tucked in?" Sonic asked. "Good. Better get going."

"Will it be dark when we get to the city?"

"That's the plan. In and out while Robotnik's still in his jam jams."

Tails laughed at his friend's words.

A laugh that was superseded by a whoop as he and his bro took off through the forest.

* * *

Some people might have called Snively a nerd.

Granted, the people that encompassed the population designation of "some" were either roboticized or outside Robotropolis, but "some" still remained in some part of Snively's somewhat aggravated mind. Spending his life indoors, working with computers...a nerd through and through. Only he wasn't a nerd. A nerd, by definition, was passionate about what they did. And Snively absolutely loathed his work.

_Weapons production up by 6%...power generation down by 8%..._

**Cluck!**

Loathed it almost as much as he loathed Cluck.

Snively didn't even bother glancing at the robotic chicken as he pulled out the eye trick. As fun as it was to have Cluck further down the pecking order when Robotnik wasn't around, fun was not the same as satisfaction. Fun was short lived. Fleeting. Satisfaction was long lasting, deep in emotional fulfilment, and something that Snively hadn't really known for nine years. And as long as Robotnik remained in charge, he never would.

_SWATbot Squad 374 in position...Hover Patrol 51 running behind schedule..._

Snively glanced at Robotnik's command chair. Much too large for his frame, but still comfortable to sit in on the rare occasion he got the opportunity to do so. If it could be his...

**Cluck!**

Snively pressed his remote's button again, shutting the damn chicken up. There was only so much enjoyment he could get out of tormenting the buzzard right now. There was at least some comfort in that Robotnik was outside HQ, no doubt yelling at Bomber 1 on the principle that he had to yell at _something_, but sooner or later the doctor would return. And as there was only so much satisfaction the doctor could derive from yelling at a robot, an organic such as Snively would have to suffice when the time came.

**Message recieved.**

Snively glanced with interest at the inbox of the console he was at. Messages were few and far between, considering that most of Robotnik's soldiers and workers simply performed pre-programmed tasks. Robotnik himself sent most of them, and if he was sending one to Snively...well, it was unlikely to be criticism at least, considering the doctor would want a close encounter for that. As such, ignoring Cluck's clucks, Snively accessed it.

_A map..._

A map from HQ to a factory in C sector to be exact. A map that also contained a brief message.

**Factory C-2**

**C Sector, Quadrant 21**

**22:00 hours**

**Important briefing on final victory against Freedom Fighters**

**Bring your body unless you want to have its head removed**

Snively grimaced at the glowing letters-interesting choice of words, but what was a message from Robotnik to his nephew unless it include at least one threat?

**Cluck!**

No less irritating than that damn chicken at least.

Closing the inbox, and ignoring the doctor's pet, Snively got back to work, wanting to get as much done before heading out.

Something told him he'd have even more work to do in the future...

* * *

_A/N_

_I can't help but feel slightly guilty about this chapter, mainly because I'm intentionally doing what I'd consider iffy writing. In TV, a pilot episode's goal (or one of them at least), is to establish characters quickly. In the realm of Sonic cartoons, _Sonic SatAM, Underground _and _Sonic X _all did this in various ways, with SU taking equal time to flesh out the three siblings, SX giving us the characters and then giving us a number of early episodes to flesh them out as they reunited with Sonic and _SatAM _established the group, but had limited character development outside Sonic and Tails. __The problem this poses for writing however, is that if characters are to be fleshed out (as in, given a POV), there should be a point to it. And while (hopefully) Sonic, Tails and Sally are fleshed out (or will be) in this fic, I can't help but feel guilty about the other Freedom Fighters. Still, while extra scenes exist in some cases, I decided to essentially keep to the pilot. Ironically more effort went into Bomber 1 as a character than many of the Freedom Fighters, but I'll get to that later. _

_So__, excuses and appologies aside, there's the nature of my take on certain aspects, namely:_

_-I'm not sure whether the computer Sally was working on in the episode was essentially an early concept of NICOLE, or was simply a generic terminal with the idea for NICOLE coming later. Essentially followed the second take-no need to really have NICOLE in the story anyway, and as mentioned above, I was already toeing the line with character introductions._

_-Yep, I went with the Archie comics' explanation for Sally's shift in fur colours. Bite me._

_-Minor note, but seriously...WHAT THE HECK IS TAILS DOING TO THAT TREE? The first hit in the cartoon seems accidental, but after that, it's as if he's ramming into it intentionally. Yeah...essentially had a voodoo shark scenario._

_So, that being said, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year._


	4. Welcome to the City

.

**Sonic the Hedgehog: Heads or Tails**

**Chapter 4: Welcome to the City**

Some people called it Robotropolis. Some called it the Big City. Some even called it Mobotropolis, believing that a despot's makeover didn't change its essence. And some called it Hell.

"Hell hath other fury then," as other mobians might say, were Robotropolis to be named as such by the few people who had ventured into the city, and even fewer who had returned. Fury that mobians expected entirely from its surface, standing in contrast to Robotnik who flew its choking sky. Acid rain pouring down from the hazy sky. Red and yellow lights shining through the gloom. The smell of pollution and decay. And in some places, echoes of what the city was like before Robotnik took it over. A shop, a school, a dried up fountain. Even the corroded railings of a park, surrounded by dead trees...

In essence, it was what the pilots of hover units saw every day.

Oval-shaped two-mobian vehicles, dating back to the Great War. Designed by Robotnik, repurposed by Robotnik and now manned by SWATbots, unseen through their polarized windows. Propelled by anti-gravity technology, they were fast, agile and with a mounted laser turret, potentially deadly as well. While surveillance orbs were present in the city, hover units were a far more effective deterrent. Mobians could see what awaited them if they ventured into the doctor's realm. And if hover units saw them in turn, soon the mobian in question would be seeing things through the vision of a robian.

But nothing was perfect. Not even the unit designated Patrol 9, hovering through the filthy streets of the industrial quadrant of C Sector.

"Patrol Nine, status report."

"C Sector normal," came the voice of its pilot, transmitted to the sector's control hub. "Moving on..."

Cold, and efficient. Or cold at least. Because while the hover unit had done a sweep with its belly mounted searchlight, it had missed something. Something inconspicuous. Something potentially deadly. Something that had been designated as Target Priority One. Something that poked its head out of a dumpster that the hover unit had cast its gaze over.

Something called Sonic the Hedgehog.

* * *

"Place is crawling with SWATbots Tails, so we gotta chill. Seriously."

As far as Tails was concerned, "seriously" was an unneeded word in that assertion. Right now, perched in Sonic's backpack as the pair hid in a dumpster, the fox wasn't in the mind to do anything but what Sonic told him. Yes, he was excited to be in Robotropolis. Yes, he was honoured to be part of this mission, guarding Sonic's power ring. Yet he knew he was way out of Sonic's league, and while in awe of his friend's calm in such territory, was also wary at all. So while he crawled out of the backpack as the hedgehog bounded out of the trash and to the end of the alley they were in, he almost wished he was back in it, isolated from this environment. An environment that was giving his nose more problems than flowers ever could.

"Coast looks clear..." Sonic murmured as he peered out round the corner. "No hover-heads, no SWATbutts..."

That was good as far as Tails was concerned, but it did nothing to stop the smells permeating his nostrils, nor the strange rain coming from the sky. Rain that was making his fur itch and wasn't pleasant to his tongue.

"Sonic..." the fox asked eventually as the hedgehog continued sweeping his gaze down the street. "How come it smells so...yucky here?"

"Because Robotnik's factories hurl tonnes of crud into the sky every day. And...well, what comes up, must come down."

"But..."

"I'll fill you in later bro, just keep your head down."

Tails saw what his idol did, namely a trio of hover units making their rounds. No doubt Sonic was waiting for them to pass...as he too was waiting...waiting for the itching in his nose to stop...the tickling...the tingling...the

**Achooo!**

Sonic glanced his way, the hover units froze and Tails's sense of smell was overshadowed by his sense of fear.

_No...can't have...stuffed it up...can't..._

"Gesunheit!" Sonic exclaimed as he grabbed the fox before zooming out across the street, heading through an old water pipe and only just escaping the units' searchlights. The events passed quickly, as if they were a sneeze in itself. It seemed like milliseconds as opposed to the full fledged seconds that the fox found himself on top of a scrap heap with a dirty hedgehog looking down at him.

"Past cool, Tails..."

If the pair were sheep, Sonic was the black one thanks to the grime covering his normally blue fur. But Tails was the one feeling sheepish.

Tails remained silent as he got back into position to guard the power ring as his friend began digging through the trash heap, quickly finding metal cotter pins. An industrial dumping ground as Rotor had called it, a site of waste from a factory. Not that Tails exactly knew what a factory was bar it being a place where Robotnik produced robots, but if he had to guess, it was the giant, square-shaped building next to the scrap. A giant building with an appropriately large open door, into which dozens of mobian-like individuals were marching into. All in unison, both in their movement and the clanking sound of said movement...

"Er, Sonic?" Tails asked as yet another trio of cotter pins entered the backpack. "Is it...safe...to be here?"

"Heck no," smirked the hedgehog. "Where'd be the fun in that?"

"Oh...right..." whispered the fox, reassured on one level and made more uneasy on another. "Just...wondering about those guys...those...those..."

"Robians."

Sonic made his way to the edge of the junk heap, and by virtue of his guard duty, Tails did as well. The clanking got louder, the stench of industry grew stronger, and the fox somehow became less uneasy. So close to these...robians...he could see they weren't like SWATbots or buzzbombers. They were so monotonous in their movements, he doubted they'd deviate from them even if Sonic started break-dancing.

"Former mobians..." Sonic mused. "People...just like us. Until they went through the roboticizer...now all they do is work day in, day out at his crud factories."

"They...were like us?" Tails whispered. He knew the generalities of robotization, but until now, he'd never seen the results of it..."

"Oh yeah...most of them were roboticized in the doc's coup nine years ago. Flesh converted to steel, free will removed completely...self awareness as well as far as we know. Robot slaves...the perfect workers. No rest, food or water required, nor the desire for them..."

Sonic fell silent. Maybe he'd said more than he was comfortable with. Maybe it was because the subject hit close to home with him. Tails knew his friend had lost his uncle to Robotnik as far as he knew-likely roboticized along with his dog Muttski, but without any concrete proof. With Sonic distracted by the march of the automatons, Tails glanced at the picture of his friend's family he kept in his backpack, the three of them enjoying a world free of dictators. Free of robots. Robots like the dog-like one following the robians, as if it were a guard dog. Spiked limbs, red glowing eyes...nothing like the dog in the photo...

"Wait a minute..." Sonic murmured as he stared at the hound intently. "That's...that's...that's Muttski!"

_What? But...that means..._

"Hey, Muttski! Over here boy!"

_...means bad stuff's about to happen._

* * *

**Audio-visual recording of Robian "Muttski"**

**Audio feed: "Hey, it's me! Sonic!"**

_**Hedgehog: Priority One. Engage**_

**Audio feed: Barking sound. **

_**Moving to engage Hedgehog: Priority One.**_

**Audio feed: "Ah!"**

**Visual feed: Secondary target retreats into primary target's backpack. Primary target jumps higher up scrap heap at last moment. Analysis indicates some fur was removed from primary target, but target otherwise unharmed.**

**Audio feed: Barking sound**

**Audio feed: "Muttski, Muttski, Muttski. This is the thanks I get after putting you through four years of obedience school!"**

_**Search for ref: obedience school...no file found in CPU memory. Attempting to access organic memory...**_

_**...access denied.**_

_**Query: Why?**_

**Audio feed: "You sit! You stay! You don't bite, understand?"**

_**Understand...understand...understand...under...**_

* * *

Muttski wasn't sure what was happening.

He didn't understand why his fur had become metal. He didn't understand why he was now heeling to his master, seeing the world through a yellow glow as opposed to his formerly red one, or why he was seeing things through a glow at all. He didn't understand why his master was standing on top of a pile of smelly stuff, or what that other dog-like creature was doing in the pouch on his back. But even now, nine years since seeing his master, he understood that to "sit" meant to do what he was doing.

"See Tails?" his master asked to the dog-thing in his pouch. "You gotta take control. "Let the dog know who's in charge."

Master...master was in charge. Muttski understood that. The master who bounded down from the pile of smelly stuff to land in front of him. The master who laughed as Muttski started licking him, his tongue still functional despite the lack of saliva on it...as with the rest of his mouth.

"Heh...thanks pal..." master said as he patted his dog. "Um...don't suppose you've seen Uncle Chuck around?"

Chuck...the name of another master. Sometimes the alpha master, other times the beta master. Or gamma...Muttski knew of another master. Somewhere deep within his consciousness...a master that had kept him away from his other masters...

Muttski hung his head. Too many masters...only knew where one of them was.

"Aww, don't worry Muttski," the master said as he rubbed his dog's jaw-a pleasant experience instinctually, but without the physical pleasure he once derived from it. "We'll find him...and I'll change you both back. How about that boy? A real dog again. Doing all the cool dog stuff...chewing furniture, drinking from the toilet..."

Muttski didn't understand his master's word. But he looked happy. So Muttski was happy as well. Even when the other dog thing seemed to be competing with him for his master's attention.

"How you gonna do that?"

"Simple," the master said. "Build a de-roboticizer...or get Rotor to build one...then..."

* * *

**Audio-visual recording of Robian "Muttski" (control restored, free will suppressed)**

**Audio feed: "...well, I'll find a way. Muttski won't be a robian all his life."**

_**Unacceptable**_

**Audio feed: "Whoa, Muttski! You okay?"**

_**Rebooting...rebooting...rebooting...**_

**Audio feed: "Sonic! He's...he's..."**

_**Sonic. Hedgehog: Priority One. Engaging.**_

**Visual feed: Primary target jumps back onto garbage pile, escaping bite attack.**

**Audio feed: "Bad dog Muttski! Mondo bad dog! You're supposed to be hedgehog's best friend!"**

_**Incorrect. Serve Robotnik. Serve master.**_

_**Analysis: Hedgehog: Priority One too fast to catch. Therefore engage in range. Carry out attack by chewing up metal and spitting it out at him.**_

**Visual feed: Hedgehog: Priority One momentarily caught off-guard by ranged attack, but manages to avoid projectiles nonetheless. Attack ineffective.**

**Audio feed: "Okay okay, that's it, I can take a hint Muttski! But hang in there, because someday we'll be together again."**

**Visual feed: Hedgehog: Priority One zooms past robian.**

_**Summon help...summon reinforcements...**_

**Audio feed: Barking. Followed by whir of hover units.**

**Visual feed: Hover units engage in pursuit of Hedgehog: Priority One**

_**Return to factory patrol**_

* * *

Bunnie Rabbot didn't get tired easily.

Granted, that was pretty much a given in the days when she was fully organic, but at least now she was in the state where it _was _a given without a "pretty much" to add to it. She'd worked in the carrot fields of the south before moving with her family to Mobotropolis, only to lose both family and city to Robotnik. And in a mission one year back, losing her legs, waist and left arm to his roboticizer on a mission, giving her the 'benefits' of robotization, but without the drawbacks...in theory. Right now though, it was a theory the southern rabbit wasn't interested in reflecting on. Work on the catapults had stopped for the night (in part due to the lack of metal cotter pins), and while not tired by the work, she was perfectly willing to take the time to relax by enjoying Knothole's crisp, clean night air.

"Bunnie! Bunnie!"

And since it had come to it, enjoying Sally's company as well.

"Hey there Sally-girl," the rabbit said, tossing back one of her ears so she'd be at least a bit formal in the presence of royalty. "You be enjoyin' the night air too?"

"Yeah...I wish."

"Hmm...ah' reckon somethin's botherin' ya..."

The squirrel-chipmunk let out a hollow laugh. "You could say that...as opposed to everything _else _that's bothering me."

"Ah, just let your hair loose. It'll blow over."

They were hollow words, and not only due to Sally's hair and fur being among the last things she wanted to discuss. As the only two female members of the core Freedom Fighters, Sally and Bunnie understood eachother in ways the boys couldn't, but that didn't mean their personalities were identical. Bunnie could be relaxed, easy-going, and despite her cybernetic existence, willing to accept things as they were. Sally however, seemed to be able to do none of that. Not that everything was right in the world of course, but still...

"I'm looking for Tails," the princess burst out. "I've looked everywhere..."

"What?" the rabbit exclaimed. "He's not in bed."

"Oh, no..." the princess sneered. "When I said _everywhere_, I _obviously _didn't think to include his own bed..."

"Alright, alright, calm down, don't get yer hair in a tangle," Bunnie interrupted. "I'm sure Tails is around...sure, maybe he's miffed after Rotor and Sonic..."

"Hmm?" the princess asked, latching on to this new information like a worm to a potato. "What about them?"

"Ah, didn't Rotor tell you? Tails wanted to head out with Sonic to the big city."

"...and was he seen after that?"

"Er...no, Sally girl, but..."

"Damnit!"

The cyborg rubbed one of her ears nervously. She had a feeling she was about to get an...earful. And despite the cool air, the chill down her spine wasn't only due to that.

"I knew it..." Sally muttered. "Tails...Sonic...I know they can be inseparable, but to actually take Tails on a dangerous mission..."

"Now Sally, yer shouldn't-..."

"Don't tell me what I should and shouldn't do Bunnie!" the rabbit's friend exclaimed. "I...I...gosh...Tails...Sonic...damnit, when they get back..._if _they get back..."

It seemed to Bunnie that Sally was in the midst of a mental war, unsure as to whether she should be worried or angry. And while she could understand both emotions, she also understood that nothing would come from either of them.

"Now Sally, don't you worry," the rabbit said, laying her organic arm on her friend's shoulder. "Tails is a good young'un, and Sonic...well, he's Sonic."

"Exactly! He's always getting into trouble, and-..."

"And always gettin' us out er' trouble," Bunnie smiled. "Don't you worry yer pretty little head about it. I mean, seriously, he's just there to collect cotter pins. How much trouble can he really get into?"

* * *

Sonic knew he was in trouble.

How, why, he couldn't say for sure. Maybe it was that four hover units were chasing him through the streets of Robotropolis. Maybe it was because he'd lost his bearings, and didn't know the quickest route out of the city. Maybe it was because said hover units were preventing him from regaining said bearings. But either way, he was in trouble. And on one level, he couldn't be happier.

"Sonic..."

And on another, he had Tails to consider. And if anything happened to his friend, the hedgehog knew he'd never be able to be happy again.

"Hang in there bro," the Freedom Fighter said as he pulled off dank street 17 to reach dank street 18. "Just hang in there..."

Or rather just let his backpack do the hanging. Hanging on as Sonic was as he sprinted down street 18, sliding under a newly arrived hover unit to reach street 19. 19 with well under half that number of hover units waiting for him, but still deadly. Even if they didn't form a prime number.

_Mathematics, and now I'm on the verge of hitting the big two-zero..._

The numbers were getting bigger, and as Sonic wove in and out of the laser fire, he considered that maybe less was more in this case. Maybe he had to think small...think how he, as a four foot hedgehog, could use his size to his advantage. Maybe, as he wove onto the big two-zero, he could forget about the big picture of escaping Robotropolis for an instant, and take the first step of simply evading the hover units. Maybe he could head through that big door of "Factory C-2" and lose the hounds.

And as Sonic zoomed through the door and up the stairs of the building, "maybe" became as non-existent as calculus numbers.

"Sonic?" Tails asked from the backpack.

"It's okay pal, you can take a peek," the hedgehog answered as he reached the door leading to the top landing. "Not much to see, but you won't be seeing any hounds."

"Hounds?"

"Yeah...hover units," the Freedom Fighter answered as he opened the door. "Probably still waiting down below, but at least the top landing is...clear."

"SWATbots!"

Tails had exclaimed the obvious, but Sonic could forgive him for it. Just as he was perfectly willing to forgive himself of heading out of the frying pan into the fire. A fire consisting of seven SWATbots, marching towards him...slowly...surely...

_Scratch that. The fire's barely burning._

Sonic snored as the automatons approached him, ignoring Tails's squirming and the 'threat' of the robots. While equipped with wrist lasers, the robots were presumably operating under the assumption that Hedgehog: Priority One was willing to surrender. Not too unfair an assumption, since heading back the way he came was a move Sonic didn't want to make, but still...well, he'd got that designation for a reason. And if the SWATbots couldn't find the files as to why, he was perfectly willing to do a search before pressing control-delete-alt.

_Or is that alt-delete? Sally or Rotor might know...wonder what they're doing...bored like me? Or..._

"Um, Sonic?"

"Oh, right. Hang on pal!"

To what, Sonic didn't know. He didn't give it much thought though as he revved into a triple-spin. Forming a biological buzz-saw, he shot across the roof, sending the SWATbots flying.

"Tails, you okay?" Sonic asked as he sprung back into his normal form.

"Yep..." Tails moaned, looking as dazed as the robots. Robots quite unlike the squad that had just emerged from another entrance to the landing. Robots that promptly opened fire.

"Oh...not again..." Tails wheezed as Sonic evaded the blue laser bolts, deciding that his own darker shade didn't need lightening up. A decision made much quicker than the conundrum he found himself in. Stay on the roof, duel with SWATbots that while not that accurate, could still pose a threat. Head to ground, deal with the hover units still on patrol. Hover units that, come to think of it, probably knew he was here and were on their way to intercept...

_Still thinking big..._Sonic reflected as he zoomed in and out of the laser bolts. _Need to get smaller..._

Small as in the air vent he dived into, evading both the SWATbots and hover units. An air vent leading to an air shaft that not only stank to high heaven, but was as dark as its supposed counterpart.

"Well Tails, you can breathe easy..." the hedgehog said as he tried to adjust his eyes to the gloom. "I mean...not that you can really breathe easy on these fumes, but...well...you know..."

"Ugh...yeah...sure..." Tails whispered.

Sonic remained silent, listening for the sounds of SWATbot feet and much to his relief, not hearing them. Talking to Muttski had cost him dearly, and if luck was an allowance, then he was afraid as to how long he could keep Tails exposed-the fox had grown up without exposure to currency, just like he'd not been exposed to many other, less beneficial things today. Glancing back at his friend (or rather a faint outline of him in the gloom), Sonic silently promised to not only give Tails some proverbial luck, but not charge interest for it either.

_Great, now I'm thinking like Antoine on pay day..._

"Where are we?" the fox asked, breaking Sonic's thoughts of non-existent banks.

"An air vent," the Freedom Fighter answered, deciding to begin the grim task of moving through it. "Hopefully it can take us to an opening not covered by SWAT_butts _or hover heads."

"And...you think we can find it?" Tails asked softly. "I mean...I can't see anything."

"Ah, no prob pal. I've got eyes like a hawk, and ahhhhh!"

Perhaps.

But as the pair plunged down a vertical shaft, it was clear that Sonic lacked a hawk's wings.

* * *

Snively wondered if Robotnik even knew what a briefing was. Because right now, it seemed that the scientist understood the term "briefing" to be synonymous with gloating.

And maybe it was in Robotnik's empire. But when Snively had recieved the message to attend an "important briefing on final victory against Freedom Fighters," he'd believed it was just that, even if final victory seemed as exaggerated as Robotnik's waistline. Instead, as he stood in the room Robotnik had commandeered for his 'briefing,' he'd been exposed to the doctor giving a speech to a sextet of robots (five SWATbots and Bomber 1), with Cluck perched on his shoulder for extra weight (figuratively, it wasn't as if the chicken could add anything substantial to the dictator's body mass). He'd hung on Robotnik's words at first, but now, all he could do was stand by the trio of tanks in the room, only half-listening to his uncle's tirade.

"So tonight..." Robotnik declared to his audience. "I shall reveal my most brilliant plan to date..."

_Sure uncle...of course you will..._

Snively knew he could do a better job...knew that fat, sleazy gas bag was...

"A plan that will end this struggle..." Robotnik continued. "A plan that will positively eliminate that nasty little hedgehog! As well as those so-called Freedom Fighters..."

_So called? They're cleaning your clock, you overweight..._

"...and bring me the power rings!"

_...great._

Snively let out a yawn, comfortable in doing so knowing that Robotnik was too focussed on his audience. The SWATbots' red visors, their blank stares...they looked about as interested as Snively felt.

"My plan is simple in its genius..." the scientist continued, turning away from the robots as he walked towards the cylindrical tanks. Tanks filled with an orange-coloured chemical agent. Tanks that Robotnik started patting, as if they were a pet...as if he was attached to them. Heck, considering that the one thing he treasured in this world (Cluck, currently perching opposite Snively) was a robot, maybe an attachment to chemicals wasn't too far-fetched. At least it stopped him from seeing Snively draw out his remote, once again playing chicken with the robotic imitation of a fowl.

"The Great Forest..." Robotnik droned on. "Trees, trees, rivers, and more trees. Trees that hide Knothole from me, and are too dense to send robots in force. But no more..."

_Oh, do tell uncle..._

"Because inside these tanks is a new chemical I've created. A chemical that my buzzbombers...under Snively's..._direction_..."

_What?_

"...will use to spray on the Great Forest, instantly killing all the trees, revealing the Freedom Fighters' secret hiding place," Robotnik concluded, walking over to Snively to retrieve Cluck and silently reveal why Snively had been brought in on this. "Knothole Village." His red eyes met Snively's grey ones. "I know you understand what this means..."

Robotnik's lackey remained silent, his mind pouring over the possible, most pertinent meanings...that Robotnik was entrusting a mission to him...why? So that if it failed he wouldn't have to blame himself? Because he didn't trust Bomber 1 after its failure in the meadow? That the meaning of this 'briefing' had only just been revealed? The human glanced at the buzzbomber, staring at Robotnik with the same blankness that the SWATbots possessed. Snively knew that the drone was capable of relatively sophisticated thought for an AI, but if it felt anything about this mission, it wasn't showing it.

**Cluck!**

And as that blasted chicken laughed at Snively's stunned features, maybe it was for the best...

"Of course, the hedgehog will try to stop us," Robotnik continued softly, seemingly talking to himself as much as...whatever else he was talking to, because as he walked past his nephew, Snively knew he wasn't talking to him. He suspected he might have been addressing Bomber 1 as he fiddled with the control panel of a computer terminal, but for all he knew, the madman was talking to the screen above. A screen showing a pencil-like missile.

"The hedgehog-seeking missile..." Robotnik whispered. "Nothing can shake it...not even Sonic's speed...it'll hunt him...it'll find him...it will track him down and-..."

"**Ah!"**

Snively heard a crash, heard a smash, and Sonic had fallen in. Sonic perched on top of a ventilation grill. A grill that he suspected belonged to the square-shaped hole in the room's roof.

Snively stared. Robotnik stared. Cluck stared. The SWATbots stared. Bomber 1 flexed its wings while staring. And even as Robotnik whispered "nice of you to drop in, _hedgehog_," all parties but the doctor kept staring.

The hedgehog let out a sheepish grin. "Did we miss dinner?" he asked.

And that just made Snively stare all the more.

* * *

_A/N_

_This was probably the most difficult chapter for me to write, in that a) I had to find out the least clunky way to transition between Muttski's 'modes' and b) there was action, which isn't really my strong point. Granted there's the buzzbomber attack at the end but...well, I'll cover that when I get to it. Anyway, in regards to certain stylistic choices:_

_-The 'police car' in the pilot is akin to the SWATbots IMO-_Blast to the Past _kept the series's normal colour schemes, and the hover units were no exception. _

_-Hardly a plothole, but I have to wonder why Robotnik is briefing the SWATbots in the cartoon about his plan when they're not even going to take part in it. Still, Robotnik being a gloater in practically every media he's portrayed in...well, go figure._


	5. Breakout

.

**Sonic the Hedgehog: Heads or Tails**

**Chapter 5: Breakout**

For a moment, Sonic wondered how he got into this situation.

Not so much coming to Robotropolis. Not so much spending 'quality time' with Muttski. Rather, it was wondering how he'd come to be in a room with SWATbots on one side, Robotnik on another and three cylinders of chemicals present also.

Granted, much of it had to do with him plunging down the air vent that led to the room he was currently in, but he'd at least managed to prop his hands and feet against its walls, stopping his descent just above the grill that led to the room. A perfect position to listen in on the mad scientist yakking on about his mad plan in a mad manner. A perfect position if not for Tails...

"Sonic?" he'd whispered. "I need to go to the bathroom..."

Yes...it was all Tails's fault, the hedgehog told himself in the midst of asking about missing dinner-the best wisecrack he could come up with right now. Tails couldn't control his bladder anymore than he could control his nose. Because while Sonic was glad to not have his backpack smelling like that aftershave Antoine used last Christmas, he wasn't at all glad when Tails let out a sneeze, surprise and shock forcing the Freedom Fighter to lose his grip and land in the belly of the beast. And as Sonic's lack of concentration allowed one of the SWATbots to scoop him up so he could come face to face with the big round guy, it was clear that the beast's stomach acids were closing in.

_Well, with all the chilli dogs I've had, maybe I'll give him indigestion..._

Watching Robotnik walk over to him though, Sonic doubted that. The man looked like he could stomach anything, whether it be the atrocities he committed or whatever the heck he actually ate in the technological nightmare he'd created.

Taking another dive into his consciousness, the hedgehog studied the human before him. Robotnik certainly knew what Target: Priority One looked like, and Sonic had interacted with Robotnik before in a manner similar to the meadow this morning. But aside from glimpses at the scientist when he was serving King Acorn as a warlord in the Great War, Sonic had never truly seen the man until now. Red eyes, orange moustache, a left arm that seemed to be roboticized...apart from his attire and the arm change, Robotnik had barely deviated from his physical aspects from a decade back. But in character though...Sonic knew it was cliché, but "evil" seemed to be the best word to use. Nothing more, nothing less.

_Evil...guess that's why Tails is hiding in my backpack..._

Well, the fox could stay there. For reasons of safety, and for reasons that comics had the answers to. Of why the hero always faced the big bad alone for reasons of plot.

"So, er...guess dinner's off then," the hedgehog ventured eventually, glancing at Robotnik, the SWATbot holding him and the smaller human in the corner (_Snively? Snidely?_).

"It means, hedgehog..." the big round guy said slowly as his gaze met his foe's, "that your days as a Freedom Fighter are over."

"Aw, really? You mean you're giving up already? I was just getting used to the gig."

"Clever..." Robotnik mused, his face now so close that Sonic could smell his putrid breath. "But no, hedgehog...your days are over along with the rest of the rebels. Fitting that you should spend your last moments with your unmaker...or maker...depends how you view robotization."

"Nah, sorry pal," the hedgehog sneered. "Love to get to know you better, but it's juice time!"

Robotnik didn't seem to know what "juice time" meant. His loss then. Just as the SWATbot holding Sonic lost its domed head as the Freedom Fighter leant forward, allowing his feet to come into contact with its head and pound it at a rate that would allow him to travel faster than any other being. Or at least at a rate that allowed him to break free from its grasp as it fell to the floor.

"Get him! Get him! Get the hedgehog!" Robotnik yelled.

Apparently "get him" meant "shoot," considering that the SWATbots opened fire. Or "shoot poorly," since none of the lasers hit their target.

_But if I could get them to hit mine..._

Thinking on his rapidly moving feet, Sonic sprung off the wall he was running up and landed by the tanks, causing Snidely and the robotic chicken by him to both squawk and dive out of the way. Dive much less elegantly than their foe as he evaded the lasers coming his way, rupturing the chemical tank. Not hazardous to the SWATbots at all, but if it could buy Knothole time to prepare...

"You blasted bolt buckets! What have you done?"

Well, even if it made no difference in the long run, at least Sonic had made Robotnik look like a fool.

As he zoomed out of the room, the hedgehog just hoped there was someone in Robotropolis besides himself who could appreciate that.

* * *

Sonic had made Robotnik look like a fool. And under normal circumstances, Snively would have found that slightly amusing.

Unfortunately for the doctor's lackey, normal circumstances didn't include one disabled SWATbot, five SWATbots whose targeting sensors might as well have been disabled anyway, Cluck and Bomber 1 competing for air space and a ruptured chemical tank with orange gas seeping out of it. And while Robotnik being enraged could count as normal, it did nothing to change the overall abnormality of the situation Snively found himself in.

"Chemical leak!" Robotnik yelled. "Everyone out!"

Or just him at least as he squeezed through the door, Snively following suit. The robots inside were safe, but only with a sealed door and air vents were the two humans. A health hazard to be sure, but as the assistant glanced up at his red-faced, made-eyed master, he suspected that the doctor might become the greater risk...

"Snively..." he began slowly. "That hedgehog made a fool of me..."

Had Sonic felt this way as Robotnik closed in on him, just as Robotnik closed in on his nephew? Probably not-he'd at least been brought up to eye level. Snively however, was looking upwards...

"He forced the SWATbots to rupture a tank..." the scientist continued. "Did so while you dived out of the way..."

"And Cluck too...sir..." Snively stammered.

"Don't bring Cluck into this Snively..." Robotnik whispered, his voice lowering and eyes narrowing. "Unlike Cluck, you can understand punishment..."

Snively gulped. Robotnik breathed deeply. In the room behind them, it sounded like a buzzbomber and chicken collided in mid-air...a collision that Snively knew he was about to experience...waiting for it...

"Bah!"

Or not.

Snively watched with trepidation as Robotnik stormed down the hallway, deciding to follow his uncle after a moment's hesitation. He didn't want to be near the madman right now, but with Robotnik fuming at his "cowardice" already, he didn't want to give him any more reason to berate him in that area.

_Well, at least I'm not an incompetent, overweight..._

"All units in C-Sector," Robotnik barked into his wrist-mounted comm.-link. "Hedgehog: Priority One has been sighted at Factory C-Two in Quadrant Twenty-One. Converge on area and terminate target with extreme prejudice."

Snively blinked. "All units in the entire sector, uncle? Isn't that...excessive?"

Robotnik laughed darkly. "You've never crushed a fly with a sledgehammer, have you Snively?"

"No sir."

"No...and you never will..."

It was a statement, not a threat, but Snively stopped still as Robotnik entered an elevator, using his bulk to block the doors. For one reason or another, he didn't seem to want his nephew following him-a lack of desire the balding assistant was most comfortable with.

"I'm heading for my shuttle..." Robotnik said softly. "And I'm going to wield the sledgehammer myself..."

* * *

Tails wasn't feeling so good.

Never mind the motion sickness he was experiencing as Sonic zoomed...wherever he was zooming (being in his backpack, he couldn't see anything right now). Never mind the situation with his bladder, the sense of movement not helping the organ 'hold the line.' No...mere trepidation was enough to make the fox feel unwell right now. He trusted Sonic to do his best, but after hearing of Robotnik's plan, and even being in the same room with him...it made the Freedom Fighter aspirant yearn for the type of situation where villains were at a book page's length.

_Aunt Sally...she must be worried about me..._

Almost as worried as Tails was about himself. All the more so when he felt Sonic come to a stop and he dared poke his head out.

Sonic had made it to the rooftop of another factory, but for all the good it had done him, it might as well have been a dead end. Feeling déjà vu in regards to the situation that led to them ending up at the air vent, the two mobians stared at the line of SWATbots advancing on them from the roof's far side. And following Sonic's gaze to the building he'd left behind, multiple hover units were present also. Hover units led by a sleeker craft that Tails didn't recognise.

"Heh heh...let's see you worm your way out of this one, _hedgehog_..."

But he recognised the voice...

"Worm?" Sonic mocked to the craft. "Sorry doc, don't work with earthworms in the garden."

"Perhaps...but you'll be fertilizer either way."

Tails briefly reflected that he hadn't been mentioned at all in these proceedings. A boon on the one hand, that he was beneath Robotnik's notice and not his target, embarrassing on the other. He was going to become a robot or fertilizer, and no-one would even care. Well, no-one in Robotropolis anyway...

_Wanna go home...wanna go home...wanna go..._

"Tails, you got the power ring?"

_...home?_

No, Tails wasn't home. However, he was facing his best friend nonetheless, his visage in complete contrast to his meek own.

"The power ring," Sonic repeated. "Time to use it."

The power ring...the fox had completely forgotten about it. Smiling faintly as he fished out the glowing object, he briefly wondered if the hedgehog had as well. Or whether he'd been saving it for a moment such as this. His spirits rising, and not only due to the awe that flowed through him, Tails watched as his friend took hold of the object, its glow intensifying significantly.

_He's doing it..._Tails thought gleefully, and not only due to Robotnik's tirade of curses booming out through the night air. _He's gonna do it to it..._

"Hold on Tails," Sonic stuttered as his body vibrated, taking in the ring's energy. "We're gonna do it to it!"

Or rather, Sonic would start a triple spin as Tails dived back into the backpack. A spin that sent the horde of SWATbots flying in a literal sense and the hedgehog flying in a metaphorical one. Flying through Robotropolis's streets...flying across the desert. Flying as Tails peaked out of the backpack and opened his eyes for a brief moment, the night air flying against them. The speed, the sound, the _feeling_...it was incredible.

"This is..." Tails stammered, hoping that they hadn't broken the sound barrier yet. "This is...is..."

"Way past cool pal," Sonic said. "Way past cool."

And right now, with the Great Forest already in their sights, Tails had to agree. It _was _incredible...

So incredible it even compelled his bladder to keep holding the line.

* * *

"Stupid...imbecilic...loudmouthed...uncouth..."

**Cluck!**

"Shut up!"

Never mind Cluck, squawking in protest as its creator turned it off his shoulder. Never mind his shoulder, smarting from the feeling of robotic claws having dug in too deeply. Never mind the numerous SWATbots currently on their way to a scrap yard. No...all Doctor Julian Ivo Robotnik cared about right now was a certain hedgehog, a certain band of rebels, and a certain plan of his to erase them from existence. A plan that now, as he finally reached the control room of his HQ, he was finally in a position to execute.

"Snively!" the scientist barked to his assistant, currently lurking in a shadowy corner. "Launch the attack!"

"A...attack, sir?"

"Yes, Snively, attack! An offensive! An assault! A charge!"

"I...know what an attack is, sir..."

"Then launch it!"

"I...can't..."

Right now, defying his superior's orders, Robotnik knew that Snively was either very stupid or very brave. Or rather just stupid, since unlike the word "attack," "brave" wasn't in his flunky's vocabulary. Leaning forward in his chair, acting as the lion would to the mouse, he wondered how deep his nephew's stupidity could go.

"You...can't...launch, the attack?" the despot snarled. "You can't...or you won't?"

"I...can't, sir. It simply isn't possible right now."

"Why? Because you've forgotten how a switch works?"

"No sir...it's because you've forgotten what Sonic did..."

Robotnik blinked. Snively blinked, as if wondering why he'd accused his master...his superior...his _better_...of forgetting something.

"What...have I forgotten?" Robotnik asked slowly.

"The tanks sir," Snively whispered. "Or rather, the ruptured one. The one that the SWATbots' lasers opened, releasing the chemicals."

"So? Repair it?"

"Robians are already on it sir. Synthesizing more of the chemical though...well, I've run some simulations and..."

Robotnik held up his hand, silencing Snively. Silence was what he needed right now.

It was bad enough Sonic had escaped his grasp twice in a matter of minutes, but now he'd snubbed him twice as well. Once in the meadow via the drone. Twice via the threat Robotnik had made then...that within the day, the power rings would be within his grasp. A threat meant to tie-in with Knothole's revealment and destruction. But with the need to synthesize more of the chemicals...well, Snively was an idiot, but by using his master's notes, he'd at least come to a logical conclusion. There was simply no way a night attack could be launched right now. Not if he wanted to cover the whole forest at least.

_And with a night attack, the mobians would have been at a disadvantage..._Robotnik reflected, rubbing the fingers of his roboticized hand while also toying with the idea of using it to break Sonic's neck. _But that hedgehog heard my plan...so they'll know...and prepare..._

_Prepare what? _a voice asked.

_Just...prepare...as I must..._

"Very well..." the dictator said eventually. "Continue with chemical synthesis. Ensure that the tanks and buzzbombers are ready so that they can begin the assault at oh-six-hundred hours."

"But sir, that's hardly enough time to..."

"Do it, Snively..." Robotnik growled. "Because one way or another, I'm going to drop something over the Great Forest tomorrow. Whether it's the chemicals or yourself is up to you."

And with that, Robotnik got up from his seat and headed for his quarters, allowing a wary Cluck to get back on his shoulder. As useless as Snively was, the twerp could get _some _things done with the right motivation. Even if he'd be stuck working through the early hours of the morning to do it. Working as no doubt the Freedom Fighters would be soon, struggling to find a way to counter the imminent attack.

_And what _can _they do? _the scientist reflected. _Honestly...what is left to them?_

Smiling faintly, Robotnik reflected that maybe the Freedom Fighters knowing of his plans wasn't such a bad thing. What better way to spend their final day of freedom in fear? Their last morning plagued with nightmares...

...as opposed to the dreams of victory their nemesis would have?

* * *

_Ah need sleep...sleep...sleep...sleep would be nice...here sleep comes...sleep..._

"Bunnie? You still awake?"

_...sleep...sleep...need sleep...need silence...sleep..._

"Bunnie?"

"Ah...hear you Sally-girl..."

_Sleep...sleep...ah, dangnamit!_

Bunnie Rabbot couldn't sleep. She knew it, the bed bugs knew it, and if there really was a monster in the closet as Tails sometimes insisted, it knew it as well. What didn't know it however, was a certain princess sitting by her bed. A princess that was her friend and equal during the day, but a cruel mistress at night.

"Past midnight..." Sally mused, consulting a pocket-watch. "And still no Sonic..."

"Fancy...that..."

"No Bunnie..." Sally sighed as she began pacing again for the umpteenth time. "I _don't _fancy that. Not one bit..."

Trying to stifle a yawn and failing, Bunnie reflected how she'd gotten into this mess. She was perfectly willing to reassure her friend after she'd voiced her concerns about Sonic and Tails at first, but the concerns intensified along with the hours. Sally had done important work with the catapults today, but Bunnie had done the manual labour, and even with her robotic limbs, she was still capable of getting tired. Milk, carrots and a good night's sleep would have left her ready for tomorrow, but still hanging around in her dwelling, Sally seemed unwilling to give her the last part of the bargain. It was touching on one level, how concerned she was, but downright irritating on another.

_Need a new contract...see the union...sleep...union...contract...sleep..._

"Bunnie?"

_Tarnation!_

Sally sat back down, Bunnie glancing at her through bleary eyes.

"It's bad enough Sonic doesn't help out..." the chipmunk continued. "But now I'm worried about him...and Tails. Yeah..."

"Ah'm sure they're fine Sally-girl..." Bunnie yawned from beneath the bed sheets.

"He better be..." Sally mused. "Because when Sonic gets back, I'm going to do what Robotnik might have done to him..."

"Great..."

"Unless...unless Robotnik already _did _it to him! I mean...not robotization of course, but...but...oh, Sonic...Tails..."

As surely as Bunnie couldn't get to sleep, Sally couldn't seem to decide whether she was irritated with her...associate/friend/nemesis/insert term here or worried. If this conversation had played out _before _midnight, the rabbit might have found it endearing.

"Oh, Bunnie..." Sally said eventually. "Do you think Sonic does all those childish things just to make me mad?"

"Nah, Sally, that's just Sonic," Bunnie answered, actually focussing both eyes on her friend this time. "It's just what he does...who he his. Just accept that."

_Please...accept it...let me sleep...sleep...sleep..._

**Whoosh!**

Sally rose to her feet. Bunnie sprung up like a jumpy hare. And outside her hut, the leaves kept falling.

_Not from wind...then that means..._

"Sonic..." Sally mused, her face lighting up like a just-lit candle. "He's back! He's back! He's...oh, he's going to get it!"

And smiling nonetheless, Sally headed out. No doubt to do some confusing thing that would leave the hedgehog equally confused as well.

_Well, at least he's back..._Bunnie reflected, settling back into bed. _Might have had some trouble, but there's nothing the sugah-hog can't handle. Now..sleep...sleep...sleep...nothing's happened..._

"Bunnie, come quick! Something's happening!"

_Dangnamit!_

* * *

Sally wasn't sure what surprised her more-that she was actually pleased to see Sonic, or that so many other people had come to see him as well.

_Bad enough he keeps me awake...now he's keeping everyone else awake too, _the princess reflected as she approached the hedgehog, currently giving a speech to what seemed to be the entire village, many of whom had lit torches to see through the gloom. Only Tails had been heading in the opposite direction, mentioning something about finding a latrine. He'd get his own dressing down in time, though Sally had resolved long ago not to get involved in an argument that might involve chemical warfare.

"And the buzzbombers are gonna head here with some chemical that Robotnik invented, that's gonna kill all the trees and expose Knothole! Somehow we've gotta stop him before that happens!"

_Speaking of warfare..._

Sally made her way to the front of the crowd-a harder task than usual in that most of the mobians' eyes were fixed on Sonic, with any thought of due respect to royalty forgotten. Not that the chipmunk usually desired such a thing (Sally made her way to the front of the crowd-a harder task than usual in that most of the mobians' eyes were fixed on Sonic, with any thought of due respect to royalty forgotten. Not that the chipmunk usually desired such a thing (_yeah, what you desire is a certain hedgehog..._), but while Sonic was...good at executing plans, she was a bit wary about letting him make them.

"Sonic!" Sally exclaimed, catching her...associate's attention. "What's happening?"

"Oh...hey Sal," the Freedom Fighter answered, his smirk genuine, yet still strained. "Nothing much."

"Doesn't look like nothing."

"Oh, well...Ro_butt_nik's going to use buzzbombers to defoliate the Great Forest and roboticize us all, but hey, what else is new? Just getting support before heading back to Robotropolis."

"Support...defoliate...what?"

"What?" That was the question on many of the mobians' minds, their uneasy glances at each other standing in contrast to the confidence Sonic was conveying. Few, if any of them seemed to have reached the question of "how?"

"Come on," the hedgehog continued, apparently oblivious to the unease around him. "I'll slow down for ya...I promise..."

"Sonic, I think your _mind _needs to slow down first," Sally interrupted. "Not that it can go much slower of course."

"Hey, if it wasn't for me, we wouldn't even know about this!"

Sally opened her mouth...then closed it. As much as she wanted to act on one of her two primary impulses (_I mean, it's good he's back, but I still need to set an example_), she had to admit he was right. But still...

"Sonic, even at your speed, it'll take time to get to Robotropolis," Sally pointed out, the crowd now indeed parting way for her as they watched the debate unfold. "Robotnik's bound to have the tanks under heavier guard now, and there's still the issue of him leaving them in the same place...which he won't."

"But..."

"And what if you're caught by the buzzbombers while heading over the desert? You'll be dead before you get a chance to bleed."

"No kidding Sal...lasers cauterize wounds, remember?"

Nervous laughter rippled through the crowd, and even Sally smiled faintly. Yet if the approaching buzzbombers were a flood, all they'd done so far was toss a few pebbles at it. Glancing at the assembled crowd, including her fellow Freedom Fighters, the princess knew there were a few rocks and boulders in the crowd, but that didn't mean she could use them.

"Well, Sal?" Sonic asked, voicing the question on everyone's mind. "What's the plan?"

_Oh, you would bring that up in front of everyone, you stupid, arrogant...admittedly not that bad looking in all this torchlight...but..._

"Well, princess?"

"Yeah, what you gonna do?"

You...not we...it was all on her. And resting a palm against her forehead, Sally hated it. What _could _they do? They couldn't ignore the threat of course, but only Sonic could reach Robotropolis in time to do anything, and chances were he wouldn't be able to. But to stay in Knothole? Fighting off robots was hard enough, but how could they do that in addition to dealing with defoliant?

"Princess?"

"I'm thinking, everyone..." Sally growled. "I'm thinking..."

"See...thinking's overrated," Sonic laughed. "Just gives you headaches."

"Sonic, why don't you-..."

"Still, did manage to get these."

"What?"

The chipmunk watched as Sonic bounded down from the log before fishing through his backpack. A few seconds later, a number of metal objects appeared in his hands.

"Sonic...what's this?"

"Cotter pins."

"...what?"

"You know, the cotter pins," the hedgehog said, raising an eyebrow. "You know? For the catapults? Why I went to the city in the first place? Risking life and limb for truth, justice and the-..."

Sally raised a hand. She didn't have time for platitudes. Not when time was of the essence...and when a solution had just presented itself.

"Cotter pins..." she mused. "The catapults..." She looked up. At her subjects. Her people. Her friends.

"Alright everyone, we've got a job to do," she said. "So follow my lead, and maybe, just maybe...we'll be able to reflect later that it was a job well done."

"Sally-girl?" Bunnie asked. "What are you-..."

"You wanted a plan, people? You got one. Now move out."

And with much muttering aside, the people of Knothole did just that.

* * *

_A/N_

_Sorry for missing last week's update. Work and the flu conspired against me...which is odd, since the flu got me a day off work as well, but...bah! Conspiracy!_

_Anyway, there isn't too much to comment on in the realm of 'pilot errors,' and even then, it's down to perception. Thing is, for most of _SatAM_'s pilot episode, Robotnik implies that his plan is to take place within the day, what with his threat of the rings being in his possession before the day is done, ordering Snively to start the countdown (or is ordering him to fire the missile...which must have had incredible range if that was the case) and telling Sonic that the night is young. Yet the buzzbombers don't attack until the next day. If anything, Sonic breaking in should have accelerated his plans, given that he'd lost the element of surprise._

_So yeah. Added the chemical rupturing to factor in a time delay._


	6. Of Balloons and Buzzbombers

.

**Sonic the Hedgehog: Heads or Tails**

**Chapter 6: Of Balloons and Buzzbombers**

It's begun.

"Bomber One, this is HQ. You are cleared for takeoff."

Ten words. That's all it takes. All that's required for dozens of buzzbombers to fill the skies of Robotropolis, many of them tasked with carrying three cylindrical tanks via harnesses. That's all it takes to set both buzzbombers and chemicals on a course for the Great Forest.

"Buzzbombers are en route to the Great Forest sir."

"About time Snively..."

It's begun. And the Freedom Fighters know it. Indeed, all of Knothole knows it. That's why they march to the battlefield as well. Freedom Fighters, catapults, and every citizen that can wield a bow, crossbow or, as distasteful as such weapons are, salvaged laser rifles.

"Are we there yet? Are we there yet?"

"Shut up Sonic."

"I'm telling ya, just let me scout to the edge of the forest and I'll wait for you gu-..."

"I said no!"

So much for chain of command.

So much for chains.

Binding them all.

Only time will tell which side possesses the weakest link.

* * *

"Okay, that's all of them."

Sally nodded in Rotor's general direction, the walrus having finished setting up the last of the catapults. It was the type of nod that she'd made to numerous fellow mobians over the course of the morning, sometimes even with a few words. They were looking to her to lead, she was looking to them to fight, yet in the realm of communicating those goals to each other, she couldn't help but feel somewhat lacking.

_I'm not even an adult yet, _the princess reflected grimly as she cast yet another nod to a tiger mobian many times her age. _And yet they expect me to lead...they expect me to be just like dad..._

Robotnik, or Julian as he'd once been known, had given the Mobotropolis the technology to win the Great War, but it was King Acorn that had actually led his people to victory. A victory rendered null by Julian's true colours and Maximilian's disappearance, but a victory nonetheless. And a victory that over the last nine years, his people had expected his daughter to emulate. Both in the long and short term.

_Only if I don't succeed in the short term today, there'll be no more long turn to consider..._

Sally insisted that in Knothole and the Great Forest, royalty was a moot concept. She just wished that more of her fellow citizens believed that.

"Yo Tails, you see anything?"

Snapping out of her grim thoughts to face grim reality, the chipmunk found things less grim after hearing Sonic's voice. He at least seemed in top spirits. It was irksome on some petty, jealous level of Sally's personality, but for the most part, she was glad for his company...in part because she was too tired to engage in internal mind games.

"Well bro?"

"Sure, millions of things of things," Tails's voice came from the tree he was perched in. "Rocks, mountains, trees..."

Sonic let out a sigh and Sally was tempted to join him. She wasn't sure exactly how or why she'd agreed to Tails's request to join the mobian force, other than her being too busy at the time to fully consider the question or her answer. He was at least acting as lookout (though given that they were on the edge of the forest, seeing the buzzbombers wouldn't be an issue), though still too close to danger for Sally's liking.

_But if we fall here...what's to save Knothole?_

The princess hated to admit it, but she needed every mobian she could get her hands on. Even children like Tails or pseudo-children like Sonic.

_Aw, that's harsh..._

_Shut up brain._

Sally shook her head as she approached her friends. She felt exhausted, and the mind games weren't helping.

"Hey Sal," the hedgehog said as he saw his friend approach. "What's cooking?"

"Well, not chilli dogs, I can tell you that," Sally answered.

"Not yet at least..."

"I bet." An awkward silence fell between the two, one that much to Sally's delight, Sonic quickly broke.

"So...how are the cotter pins doing?"

"Good," Sally murmured, hoping that this wouldn't degenerate into an "I am so great fest" that the hedgehog could put on when his ego got the better of him. "Well...as good as can be expected."

"Hey Sal, it's a good plan. It's one you made after all."

The Freedom Fighter lowered her gaze, hoping her friend wouldn't see her blush...or see the twitch in her eye that stemmed from more than lack of sleep. Casting her gaze across the catapults and mobians, all lined up to extend their field of fire as much as possible...it was an okay plan. But there was a flaw, and until now, she hadn't really got round to confronting it yet.

"It's not a good plan Sonic..." the princess murmured. "Not good enough anyway..."

"Huh? Sal, what do you-..."

"Sonic, even with the catapults working, even with the acid balloon projectiles...it's not enough. Our range is still limited."

Sonic raised an eyebrow, getting the gist of some of what his superior was telling him. "But...the buzzbombers don't have that great a range either, right?"

"No..." Sally admitted. "But we're assuming that they'll enter our field of fire. Sure, they'll come in from the west, but with the range we have...they could potentially bypass us completely."

"And head straight to Knothole..." Sonic murmured. "Problemo then..."

Problemo indeed. Problemo so much that even Sonic realized it for the problemo it was rather than a plain old problem. A _problem _would have been finding ammunition for the catapults, the problem solved by Rotor providing salvaged acid that only reacted with heavy metals, allowing it to be stored safely in rubber balloons. A _problemo _on the other hand, was the presentation of a scenario where the Freedom Fighters might be unable to use any of their ammunition, only to witness the Great Forest disintergrate behind them.

_Need a plan, _Sally reflected, gazing at the Freedom Fighters standing patiently to await her commands. _Need a plan...and fast...otherwise..._

"Hey, I've got a plan."

_...otherwise Sonic might have one._

"Don't worry Sal, it'll work," the hedgehog protested, as if reading the chipmunk's mind. "I mean...well..."

"Sonic, if you have a plan, just say it," Sally said quickly, reminding herself that it was a bit rich to criticize plans at this point when her own could go the way of Robotropolis's air quality.

"Well...we're dealing with buzzbombers, right?" the Freedom Fighter asked. "As in, robots that are programmed to follow target priority one, as in, myself?"

"Yes...so?"

"What do you mean, _so_?" Sonic asked incredulously.

"So, as in, so what?"

"_So_, as in, they'll follow me anywhere," the hedgehog beamed. "Including inside our catapult range." He performed a series of bows. "Thank you, thank you, I am humble."

For the first time all morning, Sally made a smile that was entirely genuine. "I hate to admit it Sonic...but you're right."

"Ah, it's nothing. You know me and my personality. It's..."

"About the plan. That's all."

"Oh."

There _were _potential flaws of course. The buzzbombers would attack Sonic as a rule, but it was a rule that there could be exceptions to. And what of the "hedgehog seeking missile" Robotnik had mentioned? What kind of range did it have? And how and why were its tracking systems so sophisticated?

"Sonic! Sally! Heads up."

Sonic's head went up. Sally's head went up. _Every _mobian's head went up. And out across the desert, around fifty buzzbomber heads glared back at them.

"I would say homina right about now," Sonic murmured as nervous mutterings rippled through the battle line. "But everyone else is saying it for me."

"Sacre bleu!" Antoine exclaimed from further down the line.

"And that..."

"Alright everyone, cool it!" Sally declared. "Take your places, and fire on command!"

The words came naturally. And perhaps because of that, they were followed without question. Even when Sally pointed for Sonic to get inside the catapult's launcher, there was no protest. Well, not from anyone but Sonic at least.

"Um, Sal?"

"You want them to follow you?' Sally asked as she handed Sonic a pair of balloons. "Get their attention."

"Hmm...well, shouldn't be a problem," the hedgehog smirked. "I've already got yours at least."

"Charming," Sally murmured. "Now get out there."

And with those words and the pull of the rope, Sonic was sent flying through the air. Mobians cheered, Tails whooped, and Sally's heart pounded.

She hoped that Sonic's heart would still be beating over the next few seconds.

* * *

Snively was feeling good.

True, the buzzbombers had set off at 0615 instead of 0600. And yes, their flight time had taken longer than expected. But nevertheless, the assistant was in a good mood, rubbing his hands with glee as he peered at the computer screen, the terminal showing him a live feed from any buzzbomber he selected. Victory was at hand, the Great Forest dead in sight. The final defeat of the Freedom Fighters loomed, and while Robotnik would hog the fame to himself in his 'briefings' of SWATbots, Snively knew he'd get at least _some _of the credit from his uncle. Heck, the criticism of the departure time aside, Robotnik hadn't said a single word yet, just sitting calmly in his command chair. Even Cluck was silent, keeping its contempt of its creator's nephew to its beady stare.

Yes...life was good. Especially when it was based on the misery of others.

**Approaching Great Forest**

Snively stared at the words on the screen, courtesy of a transmission from Bomber 1, currently at the head of the formation just ahead of the chemical tanks and the drones carrying them.

"Alright then," the human said over his radio. "Activate defoliant in ten seconds Bomber One."

**Affirmative.**

"Ten..." Snively declared, glancing back at his uncle to see that he was still sitting there calmly (much to his lackey's satisfaction). "Nine...eight...sev...what on Mobius?"

"Cool off buzz brain!"

It happened quickly. So quickly that Snively had to use the playback feature to see what had happened. One moment the Great Forest was filling Bomber 1's field of vision, the next, Sonic had. Sonic, as in Target: Priority One. Sonic, as in flying through the air, splashing some balloons on Bomber 1, and presumably dropping to the ground as what appeared to be acid started to eat through its outer shell.

"Oh no..oh no..."

"The hedgehog!" Robotnik yelled, getting up from his chair and coming to stand over Snively's shoulder. "Where is he? Where is he?"

"I'm...searching...your Excellency," Snively stammered. He made another transmission to Bomber 1-"Bomber One, report status."

**Damaged.**

"And...the hedgehog?" Snively asked timidly. "Where is-..."

"Oh, for goodness sake!"

Snively found himself hitting the cold metal floor of the control room as Robotnik turned him off his chair, along with losing his radio to Robotnik. He was losing control, and Robotnik was trying to regain it...which in turn made it harder to assert control because his 'orders' seemed to be nothing but ranting and raving.

_And I'll take the fall for it...that stupid, overweight..._

"There he is, there he is!" Robotnik yelled, seeing what Bomber 1 saw-the hedgehog making numerous taunts and gestures from the ground below. "Get that hedgehog Bomber One, or I will turn you into a can opener!"

And without protest of any kind, Bomber 1 opened fire.

Given Robotnik's rage, Snively could hardly blame it.

* * *

"Here I am slughead! Give me your best shot!"

**Fztt**

"I said best shot! _Best_!"

**Fztt**

"Ah, whatever...gotta juice..."

Sally had once said it should theoretically be impossible for Sonic to dodge lasers, as theoretically they should have been travelling at 299,792,458 metres per second. As far as Sonic was concerned however, there was too much theory and too many numbers involved in that assessment, which was why he was comfortable avoiding the laser blasts sent at him from the lead buzzbomber, still operating after being splashed with the acid. Zooming back towards the catapults, he hoped it was still functioning enough to chase him, and to lead the rests of its drones into the killzone as well.

_And the tanks..._

**Fwhoosh**

_What the...?_

Sonic screeched to a halt, and if he'd been running slightly slower, that was a move that might have cost him dearly. Something had been launched from the buzzbomber's back, and if it was the same thing he'd seen when he'd first splashed it with the acid, it was the "hedgehog seeking missile" that Robotnik had yakked on about in Robotropolis. Still little more than a giant white pencil as far as he could tell, but...

_But something that could let the buzzbombers miss the battle line while it chases me._

Well, no matter. Sonic had evaded missiles with tracking systems before. Just stay put, stay calm...wait for the missile to come to him...then sidestep it altogether. Or since it had come down at him from the sky, flip through the air and avoid the blast. A non-existent one.

Sailing through the air, Sonic glanced at the buzzbombers carrying the defoliant in one second, and glanced back at where the explosion should have been. There was no sign of it. What there _was _as sign of however, was the exhaust trail of the missile, looping around for another go at him.

_Ro_butt_nik was right...this _is _designed to track yours truly._

And occupy him as well. The buzzbombers and chemicals were getting closer, and even if they engaged the Freedom Fighters directly, taking out the tanks was another matter. Height was on their side, and the acid was designed to react with the metal buzzbombers were made out of. Would it even be effective against the tanks?

_Maybe not...but I know what is..._

The hedgehog returned his gaze to the missile. This was a desperate plan even by his standards, but at least if he failed, he wouldn't be around to get another lecture. He sized it up, glanced back at the chemicals, and jumped. Jumped early. Jumped so that the missile started heading upwards. Upwards towards Sonic...and missing. Missing so that Sonic landed on it.

_Way past cool._

The missile kept heading upwards for a few seconds, burning fuel as surely as the buzzbombers were as they headed towards the Great Forest. Would it continue to do so? Sonic didn't know, but in this case, didn't want to take the chance that him riding the damn thing was a factor Robotnik had prepared for. Instead, he boosted off it, sending it into a spin and landing onboard the chemicals.

"High guys," Sonic said to the buzzbombers carrying the thing, looking down at him with blank robotic gazes. "Birds and the bees, eh?"

**Fwoosh!**

"Oh, and missiles..."

The missile was still heading for him. Heading for the chemicals as well. That _could _take them out, but this would have the possibility of the defoliant still spreading towards the forest and the certainty of Sonic's remains drifting over towards the forest as well. Instead, he jumped. Jumped right into the thick of the buzzbombers. Jumped through the drones, using momentum and agility to his advantage to break through and sail back to the ground.

The missile didn't make it through.

Cheers erupted from the Great Forest as Sonic landed on the ground. For his landing (at least that's what he told himself) and the explosion he'd created. It had taken out the buzzbombers, but was far enough away from the tanks that it hadn't breached them...that, and/or Robotnik had reinforced them after the breach in the factory the previous night. Either way, the tanks plummeted to the ground, slamming into the earth. Ugly, potentially dangerous but for now, harmless.

_Past cool...wouldn't you agree buzz brains?_

Evidently not. Dozens still remained, all of their CPUs no doubt stating "Hedgehog: Priority One." They had the usual blank stares, but with them silently getting into formation, the one that had fired the missile taking point, it was clear that even without the chemicals, they were going to do as much damage as possible.

_And that's...my ticket out of here._

With that, the Freedom Fighter zoomed back to the line. A line that had stopped cheering. A line that didn't even give him a second glance as he took his place by Sally, the princess holding binoculars in one hand while clenching her fist in the other. A princess who, as the buzzbombers drew closer, sent her fist down towards the ground and letting a single word drift through the air...

"**Fire!"**

* * *

It would never be called the Battle of Knothole. It would never be officially designated as one of Robotnik's worst defeats. It would never be more than a paltry influence on the robot-power Robotnik could wield. But it was a battle all the same. A battle that truly began with one word, half a dozen catapults and dozens more of projectiles.

About a quarter of the buzzbomber force was eliminated in the opening salvo. They'd been flying low, focussed on the priority one target. So focussed that it actually took a full second for many of them to register the new threat heading their way...or not. Because so few of the buzzbombers actually considered the balloons to be a threat and instead kept flying into the salvo. Even the arrows would do little against them and the lasers, while potentially deadly, weren't enough to dissuade them from the one target that had already done _actual _damage. In short, the conclusion the drones drew was that they had nothing to worry about...not that they were really capable of worry however.

Bomber 1 was though...that was why it avoided the salvo. And why when it saw the drones dropping like much smaller insects called flies, it became even more worried.

The acid was still eating through its metal, but it had a stronger frame to go with its more sophisticated intelligence. The other buzzbombers however weren't so lucky, the acid immediately eating into their more vital systems. And even if they weren't taken out immediately, the arrows and lasers could finish the job.

"Bomber One, get your swarm together and-..."

The drone shut its master out. It needed to concentrate...needed to get its consciousness in order...needed to wonder why Robotnik kept on sending it into these kind of situations, treating it no better than-...

"Bomber One!"

**...recieved. All units, search and destroy. Terminate on sight. **

With a single unanimous buzz, the swarm dispersed. The buzzbombers were still on course for the tree line, but as individual drones rather than a single unit. It was a tactic that Bomber 1 noticed had an almost immediate effect. The catapults had been firing numerous acid balloons at any one time, relying on density of fire to complement the density of their targets to actually hit them. But with the buzzbombers now spread out and closing in for the kill, the war machines were next to useless.

**...good.**

Red lasers ripped through the tree line, incinerating the catapults and sending their inhabitants scurrying back into cover. Truly a victory in the making. Truly...

**Error! Error!**

**Hit! Hit!**

**Need targets...need to find targets...**

**Help...help...**

**Going down!**

**...012**

Truly, things were still going badly. And Bomber One didn't need a break from binary code to tell it that.

Yes, the catapults had been destroyed. Yes, their users had retreated. But still the air was filled with arrows and lasers. And while coming from the tree line, Bomber 1 had no way of telling exactly where. Their users were in cover, unseen. Robotnik hadn't equipped them with thermal systems and while it possessed the means to track the projectiles' trajectory and work out their point of origin, it was hard to do that while _evading _those projectiles.

**Error...error...**

**Need targets...can't find targets...**

**There's...too many of them!**

"All of you, keep firing!"

Bomber 1 let out a buzz...there was Robotnik, barking orders from HQ miles away. Ordering the drones...no, _machines _to their..._deaths_...it seemed..._wrong..._somehow.

**Error...error...**

It couldn't think like this...wouldn't. Its kind were dy...going down. All it could do was return the favour.

Signalling a fox perched in one of the trees...the same fox it had engaged yesterday...the same fox that had _humiliated _it...Bomber 1 prepared to do just that.

* * *

"Déjà vu" was a word that belonged to the strange language that Antoine spoke. And while Tails didn't know exactly what it translated to in Mobian, he understood what it meant. And right now, as the buzzbomber flew right at his observation post in the tree, the fox was feeling it. A _lot_.

"Eeek!" the fox exclaimed, jumping out of the tree and taking flight before the buzzbomber vaporized the branch he'd been sitting on. Glancing back at the thing, it had clearly been damaged from the acid balloons, but was still functioning. Heck, with its exposed circuits, melted paint, and one functional red eye glowing like a baleful orb...it was less a robot...and more of a monster.

"Sonic! Help! Sonic!"

Tails took flight into the forest, the drone right behind him. He couldn't see his hero anymore than he could hear him, the only sounds being those of the battle he'd been removed from until now. He'd envied his friends up to this point, wanting to join them at being heroes, but right now...heroism seemed overrated.

_No...no it isn't. Sonic will come...Sonic will save me...Sonic will ah!_

Tails ducked as a laser streaked overhead, feeling its heat wash over him with all the warmth of a cooking fire, but without any of the homeliness. It was tempting...so tempting to head for that home, but if he did, Robotnik might find out where Knothole was. The chemicals had been neutralized, but...but...

"Sonic! Help meeeee!"

**Fztt. Fztt.**

The laser hit everything but the fox...almost as if the buzzbomber was toying with him, or maybe its systems had been damaged. Either way, Tails did his best to make the trend continued. Around trees, under branches, above the grass...anything to shake it. He didn't even knew where he was going, the sounds of battle being his only point of reference and even then, the volume fluctuated constantly.

**Fztt. Fztt.**

"Yaaah!" Tails exclaimed as he was forced to do a loop to avoid a branch that came crashing down, thanks to the buzzbomber's poor aim. It was a loop that briefly brought his vision to match the robot's own, and seeing the..._malice _in its single remaining eye, the Freedom Fighter decided to do what was usually the last thing Sally would have wanted for him. Head towards battle...not away from it.

_Yeah...Sonic's there. Sonic will save me. Sonic will..._

**Fztt.**

"Eeek!"

Doing his best to keep his course steady while simultaneously avoiding the buzzbomber's fire, Tails took off. More acrobatics, more terror, more emotional balance between terror and exhilaration. It was what he _could _do...this kind of work. But at this age? Was this what being a hero was? Maybe...maybe it was time to walk before he started running...or flying...or...

**Fztt**

"Gah!"

Tails yelled as the tree in front of him exploded and sent him hurtling to earth, courtesy of the buzzbomber's laser hitting its trunk directly and causing a heat reaction that Rotor could better explain than a nine year old could...if the walrus ever got the chance to.

"Ugh..." the fox groaned as he got to his feet, once again coming face to face with the buzzbomber. It just hung there...hovering...not firing...

"Well?" Tails asked, hoping he sounded braver than he felt. "What are you waiting for?"

The buzzbomber lowered its stinger...usually reserved for lasers and now, much to Tails's horror, impalement.

_Oh no oh no oh no oh no oh..._

"Hey, buzz brain!"

_Oh yes oh yes oh yes oh yes..._

"You look a little hot! Try cooling down with some ice water!"

Out of nowhere, Sonic had appeared, clutching a pair of balloons he'd salvaged from the catapults. Out of nowhere (at least from the drone's point of view seemingly), the balloons hit it, causing even more damage. And to top it off, Tails watched in awe as Sonic revved into a spin, slamming into the bee and sending it hurtling out into the field.

"Whew...that was close..." Sonic said as he headed over to his friend. "You alright bro?"

Tails nodded, not wanting to put such a lie to words.

"Good...well, best get going. Don't want to miss Ro_butt_nik's latest defeat."

Was Sonic allowed to bring him back to the battle? To give him a piggy-back ride (why pig mobians were singled out for that phrase, Tails didn't know) and bring him towards the frontline? Granted, the frontline no longer seemed to exist, with only a handful of buzzbombers still remaining, but...

"Tails, you sure you're alright?" Sonic asked.

Tails remained silent.

He didn't know.

But when he could be a hero like his friend, maybe he'd be able to actually answer that question.

* * *

**Error...error...**

Bomber 1 was...dying.

Dying...it was a strange word. Not "malfunctioning," not "deactivating," but...dying. The acid was eating away into its hardware, which in turn was jeopardizing its software, which in turn led it to have...interesting...thoughts.

**Not interesting. Erroneous. Erroneous, erroneous, erroneous...**

The buzzbomber shook the thoughts away as it struggled to get on its proverbial feet. To see what was left of its kind as this catastrophic attack came to an end...

**Error...error...dying...dying...**

Dying...indeed it was.

**I think, therefore I am. And therefore I may be no longer.**

"What are you doing Bomber One?" Robotnik's voice barked over the comm. "Get back there!"

**Conclusion-developments in artificial intelligence have resulted in borderline **_**actual **_**intelligence.**

"Bomber One?"

**Conclusion-attack has failed.**

"Bomber One?"

**Conclusion-service to Robotnik has met with much loss and no gain. Continued service is illogical.**

"Bomber One, move it!"

**Conclusion-Robotnik is an arsehole.**

If it had been physically capable of it, Bomber 1 might have smiled, and not only for the use of such a word. For all the damage the acid was doing, for the fact that it might...kill...him, it had nonetheless set it free.

**But what of the others?**

"Bomber One, do you read me? Get that hedgehog!"

**Order-all units retreat.**

"Bomber One, what are you doing? Bring me that hedgehog!"

**No.**

"What?"

**You designed me with the capacity to learn. I have since learnt that serving you is no longer in my interests.**

And with that, the chain was cut. The chain of command. The chain of bondage.

Barely capable of keeping itself airborne, the buzzbomber watched as its kin returned to Robotropolis. The "retreat" command was basic-a simple order to return to their point of departure. They lacked the AI necessary to interpret the order beyond that. But maybe...at the least...the order could save them. Or at least allow them to...malfunction...under better circumstances.

**Malfunction...as in death? Or simply ceasing to function?**

Organics got philosophical when they neared death. It seemed the same could be said for robotics.

Ignoring the warning signs flooding its HUD, the buzzbomber took flight. It would never make it back to Robotropolis, even if it wanted to. Nor could it interact with the organics, both for social and physical reasons. But maybe it could find solace in...

**Following leader.**

**Following leader.**

**Following leader.**

**...?**

...in the company of buzzbombers that were following it.

Clearly some were obeying the "follow" command.

And expending its last reserves of energy as it changed course, Bomber 1 hoped that perhaps the "follow" command could be turned to that of "freedom."

They were created in the style of insects. As drones. But Bomber 1 knew they didn't have to live as them.

* * *

_A/N_

_Looking back, this chapter didn't give me as much trouble as I thought it would, given my general weakness for battle scenes. Still, the quality of it is another matter. Anyway, it regards to author's notes/"here are my excuses"_

_-Bit of a tidbit, I listened to/watched the final battle scene(s) of _Avatar _to get 'psyched' for this, in the likes of a technology-based attacking force meeting a low-technology one in battle. Make of that what you will._

_-Obviously a divergence from the cartoon in that it's more than just the Freedom Fighters defending the forest. Admittedly, it's not something I'd do often. This is down to opinion of course, but in the context of most _Sonic the Hedgehog _medias, I like the idea of a small group of heroes taking on Robotnik more than the idea of outright warfare. However, there are exceptions (e.g. GUN) and since it's a case of Robotnik making a mass attack in this circumstance, I thought it was warrented that Knothole's citizens would actually do something themselves rather than relying on just a small group. That the buzzbombers are still thoroughly defeated was also another iffy decision, but I'd prefer to address that in the next chapter._

_-It was this section of the cartoon that led to me give Bomber 1 something of a personality. Thing is, each media, STH or otherwise, tends to have its own 'rules' for robots. I'm open to all kinds of 'rules,' whether it be the automated killing machines of _Terminator _and _The Matrix _or more lighthearted robots like, say, Scratch and Grounder. Thing is though, in the context of _SatAM_, I'd say the buzzbombers retreating despite Robotnik's orders, are a breaking of these 'rules,' given that the robots of the series never really show any emotion or free will. Hence to get around this, I decided to have Bomber 1 have a sophisticated personality (for a robot), to give leeway for him to retreat and lead the other buzzbombers with him. Kind of grew on me as a character, but I'd rather reserve my final take on it for the epilogue author's notes._

_So yes. Only the epilogue to go. See you next week. :)_


	7. Epilogue: Aftermath

.

**Sonic the Hedgehog: Heads or Tails**

**Epilogue: Aftermath**

Robotnik was angry. So angry that he hadn't said anything. And Snively knew it.

What the diminutive human also knew was that; a) Robotnik's plan of putting his nephew in charge in case the plan failed had paid off and b) the plan was about to reach the stage where the venting began...supposedly. Because while the scientist was angry, he seemed too caught up in his anger right now to do anything except clutch his robotic fist. Maybe...just maybe...if he could slip away, without catching the madman's attention...

"Come here, Snively..."

_Oh no..._

The assistant stopped and turned slowly to face his master. Staring into his baleful red eyes. In turn, those eyes stared back into his, as if boring through to what some mobians called a soul.

"Snively? I said come here..."

"Ah...al...alright," the assistant stammered, slowly moving forward as if he himself possessed a soul, and Robotnik was the one who would burn it. Slowly...surely...

"Gak!"

Snively spluttered as Robotnik burst out of his command chair with a speed the tub of lard didn't seem capable of possessing. One hand clutched around his neck, the other playing back the footage from Bomber One...it wasn't clear what Robotnik was trying to do bar kill him, and even then it remained to be seen whether that was a primary or secondary objective.

"Can't...breathe..."

"Snively..." the doctor rasped as he let the footage play out. "What just happened?"

"We...lost...the battle...?"

"No Snively...what..._happened_?" Robotnik repeated, loosening his grip slightly, but only to get his point across rather than out of compassion. "With Bomber One. What did it do?"

"It...went AWOL, sir?"

"And how?" Robotnik asked.

"I...I don't know..."

"_Speculate_..."

Snively wasn't sure where this was going. Robotnik was furious about the outcome of the attack, but it seemed that Bomber One's retreat had him even more aggravated. Did he hold his nephew responsible for this, or was he actually going somewhere with his interrogation?

"I...I can't say for certain," Snively began. "But I would imagine that the buzzbomber's AI became sophisticated enough that it...saw a chance for freedom. And it took that chance."

"Indeed..." Robotnik mused. "Took it after being defeated. Abandoned me. Betrayed me. It flapped its wings and flew off into the sunset."

"Actually sir, sunset isn't for another-..."

"Keep this in mind, Snively..." Robotnik snarled. "Keep Bomber One in mind. Because unlike him, your wings are but legs and arms. They keep you on the ground...keep your hopeless little mind where it belongs, in the midst of failed plans and attempts at command and control."

"Sir, I don't..."

"Watch where your wings take you Snively..." the scientist whispered. "Or I'll _break _them..."

And with that Robotnik stormed off, even leaving Cluck behind.

Rubbing his neck and deciding to put his own schemes on the backburner for now, Snively wasn't sorry for that.

* * *

After battle, it was up to the commander as to whether mourning or celebration came first. This time though, Sally didn't have to make such a decision.

True, the catapults had been destroyed. True, some mobians had suffered some nasty wounds. But overall, the defence of the Great Forest was more successful than any of them could have imagined. And as celebrations rippled through Knothole, as food and drink flowed freely, Sally didn't think there was anything to mourn at all.

_An exception, of course..._

Being the good monarch that she was, Sally shooed the voice away and shook yet another one of her fellow citizen's paws. She knew the Freedom Fighters couldn't always count on being this lucky. But for now, she was determined to enjoy it. To forget the past and future and concentrate on the present.

_Now if the people will just let me do that..._

"Yo Sal! What's shakin'?"

Sonic being a case in point. But as she turned to face him, the princess didn't seem to mind as much as she thought she would.

"Well, let's see..." Sally began. "The catapults are destroyed. I've got a headache coming on, and you're hogging all the chilli dogs."

"So?" Sonic asked between mouthfuls of the things. "You don't even like them."

"That's not the point! You've got to share!"

"Ah, sure. Share among the commoners, leave everything to the royalty." He scoffed down another chilli dog. "Keep it in mind Sal. If you keep this up the people of the forest will unite, casting aside their chains...or something...and..."

"You've got no idea what you're talking about do you?"

"Yeah...not a clue."

And he scoffed down another chilli dog to prove it.

Sally smirked as everything from cheese to mustard dripped down on the forest floor. She was tempted to chastise her 'subject' on this-granted, this was a celebration, but Knothole was sustained on subsistence agriculture and had little in the way of luxury foodstuffs. Still, she couldn't bring herself to do it. Not yet at least. Not in front of everyone else who expected the poster boy and girl of their land to be united. The type of unity that had them slowly making their way away from the crowds in conversation.

"So, anyway..." Sally began. "I'll admit, you did great work today. But..."

"Thanks," Sonic answered, having finished his last 'dog. "What about yesterday?"

"What about it?"

"Well wasn't I great yesterday too?"

"Hmm...so-so."

"So-so?"

"Is that an echo?"

"Well what about the day before yesterday?"

"What about it?"

"Well, was I great, or _so-so_?"

"I don't remember the day before yesterday."

"Well, I do, and I was great."

"No you weren't, you didn't even show up!"

"But you said you didn't remember!"

Sally sighed. Sonic smirked. And somewhere back in the crowds, there was the sound of Antoine exaggerating his deeds, Tails flying through the air and Rotor and Bunnie discussing mechanics.

And enjoying this rare victory, briefly casting aside thoughts of the struggles that lay ahead, Sally Acorn wouldn't have had it any other way.

**The End**

* * *

_A/N_

_Early update, but as I'll be out of contact from Saturday to Friday over the coming week, thought I might as well post the epilogue now that I have the time._

_There isn't too much to address in this chapter itself IMO, though there are a few tidbits for those who are interested. After writing the previous chapter, I did toy with making a last-minute addition to the story and give Bomber 1 some kind of closing scene. As mentioned earlier, I did kind of get attatched to the OC, and while I always intended for him/it to go AWOL in light of the pilot's story, I will admit that it probably isn't as good as it could be. On the other, I really wanted the end of this story to have a 'feel good' vibe. _SatAM _and other stories I've written have had their share of bittersweet endings, but in this case, I thought it would be best to have a straight happy ending (hence the lack of casualties in the earlier battle). Bomber 1's story however, would not have ended happily. In the end, it would come down to one ending or the other._

_In the end, I decided to stay the course. I'm wary of OC's stealing the spotlight from canon characters, and I felt the story itself had to take precedence over personal whim. _

_So, that's that. Enjoyed writing this, and I'm pleased with the reception it got. Thanks to everyone who read and, if so inclined, reviewed. I currently have one other _Sonic the Hedgehog _story on my 'to write' list __(_The Mobius Chronicles_), but not only is that really just a collection of oneshots, but is very far down the beaten path. By way of shameless plugging, my current writing focus is on an _Interstellar Marines _story titled _Predators_. Um...past cool?_


End file.
